


Maker, Breaker

by Brrng



Category: Homestuck
Genre: ASL, Deaf Character, M/M, mutant AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-03-11 06:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 75,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3317195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brrng/pseuds/Brrng
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The job you took this time was pretty simple. Basic operation: find the target - some dude with a bucktoothed grin and a pair of wings grafted to his spine. Then kill him, dispose of the body, report back to HQ, and make sure you get paid this time. Maybe even get paid extra - HQ has this thing about mutants and they get that super villain gleam in their eyes when they hear of a dead one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Right. So. First time trying to post something on AO3, apologies if I messed it up.  
> I have several chapters of this already written, but they need editing. I'm not completely happy with this chapter as it is, either, but if I don't post it now I have a feeling I never will. I don't know when I'll be posting new chapters, and I doubt I'd be able to stick to a set schedule, but for a while, at least, they shouldn't be too far apart. Other than that - hope you like it!

It's raining.

A lot.

It's been what, a week, maybe, since the rain started, and it hasn't let up once. The first couple of days were fine, just a light drizzle. Then yesterday it started really pouring. You think that was yesterday, might've been earlier today. You should probably check the time.

Of course, the pouring rain doesn't exactly mean that you get to stop working. Nope. You're expected to finish the job, which means hurrying this fight along until one of you wins. Winner is the one who walks out alive. You intend for it to be you. You even brought along your best sword, the one Bro gave you when you turned 18.

The job you took this time was pretty simple. Basic operation: find the target - some dude with a bucktoothed grin and a pair of wings grafted to his spine. Then kill him, dispose of the body, report back to HQ, and make sure you get paid this time. Maybe even get paid extra - HQ has this thing about mutants and they get that super villain gleam in their eyes when they hear of a dead one.

Right now, though, getting paid is not your top priority. The only thing on your mind right now is the fight. The rain isn't making it easy to fight, though. It makes the grip of your gloves slide just a small amount every so often and throws you off. If wing-boy wasn't so busy trying to not get killed, he'd probably be laughing at you. Instead, he's trying entirely too hard to dodge your blade.

He's not making this easy for you, a pair of pistols gleaming in his hands as he tries to get a clear shot at you and you try to get one at him. Those wings of his are making it hard for you to hit him, even with your flashstepping, because he can fly upwards while you're limited to the ground. Though, to be sure, a back alley is probably among the worst places to fight with swords and guns. There's not a lot you can do about that without fighting in the middle of the street, so you'll take what you can get.

Your sword grazes his side and he falters in the air. You rush forwards, smacking up and across one of his wings with the flat of your blade - you think you hear something break. He cries out in pain and the wing crumples, the other one folding in as he falls to the ground, landing with a dull thud. He drops one of his pistols and clutches at his side, eyes wide, and you raise the sword towards his belly. He tips backwards and lands on his ass, deathly still.

He watches you and you watch back, then look pointedly at the pistol still in his hand, and he slowly lets go. You kick that pistol away a little with your foot, then crouch down to his eye level.

It's quiet for a minute, so quiet that you can hear the cars racing down the streets and the rain sounds like a nail driving into your skull. "So, bromine, riddle me this," you say, breaking the silence. "What's a guy to do when his opponent's down for the count?"

He manages to spit in the direction of your shoe and mutters, "Fuck you."

The man speaks. You whistle, a slow grin spreading across your features. "Whoa-oh-oh. There's no need for words like that." You pause, then say, somewhat softer, "Nah, the only thing that's really gotta be said right now is a goodbye." His eyes widen a fraction of an inch and then harden and he curls one hand into a solid-looking fist. Your head tilts and you watch that fist, shuddering and damp and with a thin streak of blood curling around his knuckles.

"Why?"

It's quiet enough you almost think it's a voice in your head asking the question, but you see his lips move out of the corner of your eye.

"Why?" he repeats. "Why kill me?" You blink and your grin fades to become a frown as he struggles to sit up a bit more. "You've said so yourself, I'm down for the count. You've as good as won this fight. Why kill me?"

To be fair, it's a good question. Good questions deserve good answers. But given that your answer is "I haven't gotten paid in nearly a week and they promised quite a bit for your head", you're not sure what to say.

"I wonder," you say finally. "Why should I kill you? Should I kill you because it's kind to put broken things out of their misery, should I kill you because that's the goal of," you wave your hand around a little, "this?" You search his eyes, wondering what to do, your own safely hidden behind shades pointy enough to earn you a few strange looks. You're… actually not too sure what to do. You've never been questioned by the soon-to-be-deceased before. You've had heroic last stands and speeches, a few people that tried to escape, but never one that's tried to reason with you.

"You shouldn't kill me," is his answer, and you raise an eyebrow. "You shouldn't," he repeats, more insistent. "Really, you shouldn't."

"And why is that, O winged one?" You say, quiet. You can hear a few cars screeching along the wet road nearby. Their doors open and slam shut again accompanied by voices shouting, coming closer and growing louder. He jerks his head in that direction with a nervous look, his fingers twitching as though to curl around an imaginary gun.

You let out a long breath and shut your eyes, mind racing. There's quite a sum out for this guy's head. If these people - probably cops or hunters, maybe other mutants - see him, they'll mess everything up. They'll most likely take you away and throw him in a lab somewhere where you won't have a chance of finding him again. So, you're down with a few choices.

A: Kill him here and now, take his head to prove his death to HQ, and get the hell out before the people come and find you two.  
(Pros: he's dead. Cons: could take a long time, could be found before you can finish)

B: Leave him here and skedaddle.  
(Pros: you're safe. Cons: he's gone and high chance never to be found again [possible pro: he might die on the way to wherever, though it's unlikely seeing as he ain't dead yet])

C: Skedaddle, but with the guy, and fast.  
(Pros: you're safe, he's almost dead, you can keep an eye on him and kill him when you get out. Cons: he's not dead)

You curse under your breath and slide your sword into the sheath at your side, then bend towards the mutant. The holster around his hips is a little tricky to take off, but you manage it and wrap it around your own. It takes a bit of scrambling to get both the pistols and slip them into their respective spots - you've never bothered much with guns. You waste a few valuable moments shifting the two devices around on your hips to a more comfortable position, trying to figure out how exactly to make this work.

When you've got all that settled, you reach down and grasp his hand, yanking him upright. He stares at you with open shock when you're face to face. He's just a little taller than you at full height and looks to be far more sturdily built, and for a moment you wonder how he manages to get off the ground.

A smirk crosses your features as you meet his gaze. "You make a convincing argument," you say, slipping an arm around his back and under his armpit. You end up half-dragging him towards the much quieter exit for a few moments, and then his feet start to work and he's helping you move towards the end of the alley.

Your getaway car (to be truthful, it's not a car, it's a truck) is parked nearby and you direct him towards it. You remove your arm to pull your keys out of your pocket and fumble with them for a second before you press the right button, unlocking it. You glance over at the bleeding guy at your side and breathe out sharply, opening the door. "Don’t bleed all over my truck, 'kay?" He nods and gets in, wincing as his battered wing hits the back of the seat. It seems to be smaller than before, a little less stick-out-ish, but you can't afford to waste more time wondering how his wings work.

You hurry around to the driver's side and waste the time you saved from wondering about his wings trying to figure out how to get both the gun holster and your own sheath off. It takes a few moments but you manage, opening the door and shoving them into the back seat before you get in as fast as humanly possible to start the car. It comes to life with a muffled roar and you speed off, praying the wheels don't give out and cause the car to slip and slide and crash.

You can hear him breathing, almost like a heartbeat, quiet and constant. Could march in time to a steady beat like that, part of you thinks, and you frown slightly.

The roads that twist through the center of the city thin out as you near your apartment. You split your time watching the road and the rearview mirror, checking to see if you're being followed. Luckily enough, whoever it was that was about to find the two of you must still be checking out the alley. Or maybe they weren't even there for you. You don't really care, now that you're gone, so you push it to the back of your mind and ease off the gas as you enter the parking lot in front of your apartment. You back into a parking space and turn the car off, leaning forward to rest your elbows on the steering wheel. You glance over at your companion (too familiar a term for the guy you still kinda want to kill, but hell, it's the best you can think of right now) and just watch him for a minute or two.

It's clear he's uncomfortable, though from the pain or your gaze or both, you're not sure. He eventually breaks the silence with a stifled groan and then asks, "I don't suppose you're going to invite me inside?"

You raise an eyebrow. "Am I?" He shoots you a withering glance and you shrug. "Well, who am I to refuse a mangled corpse on my sofa?"

He glares and the corners of your mouth twitch up as you remove your keys and slip them into your pocket. You get out and walk to the other side, opening the door and watching the surrounding area as he gets out as slow as he possibly can. Once he's out, you push the seat down a bit to retrieve the weapons from the back. You step back out and watch as the only other car in the lot drives off, thankful that they didn't stop.

You fumble in your pocket for a second to lock the truck, then turn to face him. He's leaning against the side, his hand going to the broken wing in a subconscious way. "Dude," you say, and he startles out of his thoughts, "I thought I said not to get blood all over my truck."

He glances down at his hands and then back a bit at his wing, then the truck. You suppose he'd been focusing on the pain of a broken appendage and not the fact that said broken appendage is bleeding. All over your nice, shiny black-and-orange truck. Though you suppose it has been a while since it last got cleaned. His gaze drifts up to you and he shrugs a little, before saying, "Sorry about that."

This kid is weird (though he isn't really a kid, he appears to be the same age as you). First he's the perfect picture of confidence, swinging his pistols around and trying to kill you just as much as you were trying to kill him. You catch him unaware, save his life (granted it's only so you can kill him later when people won't be fucking up your plans), and now he's apologizing to you. You don't understand what's up with him. So you shake your head and run a hand through your hair, then move to the back of your truck.

The back's open to the air and, at the moment, home to a few puddles. You'd parked it under an overhang so that water didn't pool up in there while you and bird-boy were going at it, but the drive over had allowed water in. It doesn't seem to have done much, though - the few things you keep back here aren't too affected. You drop the weapons over the side while he watches you and tries to keep the rain from blurring his glasses - glasses? Huh. You hadn't noticed them earlier.

Pulling the back down and hoisting yourself up takes a couple tries because damn it all, you keep slipping. Once you're up, though, it's easy enough to slip the two holsters back around your hips. Under a toolbox you find a spare jacket, something you'd stashed here a while ago in case of emergencies, and turn to face wing-boy.

"Hey," you call, and he turns a little to look at you. "Think you can be useful for a bit? I mean, not that standing around and staring at the ground isn't useful, but help a guy out." He glares, but walks over nonetheless and you pass him the jacket. He stares at it before glancing up at you and you shrug. "Wings tend to draw looks, bro. You wanna get outta the rain, use the jacket and cover 'em up."

You shift your attention towards the phone you pull out of your pocket, confirming the fact that it's late, but not too terribly so. A few taps of your thumb and you see a missed call and several texts waiting for you, but before you're able to read them, a voice catches your attention.

"I can hide them," he says, quietly, and you pause and turn to face him. "You do know this, right?" Your face stays carefully blank but some hint of your lack of knowledge must show through because a faint smile appears on that blasted face of his. "It's not difficult, they, ah, close? I suppose that's the word for it." To prove his point, his good wing slowly folds a bit more noticeably than when it was simply closed. It's not straight up hidden but it's a lot better than it was.

You raise an eyebrow and point at his left wing, the one that you broke and bloodied not fifteen minutes ago. He flushes a bit and his hand moves to scratch the back of his neck. "Um, well, there is the slight issue of that. It's a tad hard to hide them when one's damaged." You nod and nudge the jacket a few times with your foot until he swings it over his shoulders. It's a bit small on him and he struggles to get it comfortably situated.

You glance away and around the bed of the truck once before deciding that there was nothing else worth taking inside and jump down. You slip your phone back into your pocket before closing the back. When you turn, you meet his gaze for a second before his drops down pointedly to the weapons hanging from your hips. You give him an unamused look and walk past him, towards the doors to the building. He probably thinks that you're going to get stopped on your way in, or maybe freak out a couple of old ladies. You _are_ capable of planning ahead and not making a scene, no matter what certain younger brothers would like to think, thank you very much.

It's probably a good thing that you've walked inside with worse than a couple weapons from your belt before. The kind of stares you get from people are something you've gotten used to. You guess it's not entirely their fault, since you usually don't bother putting away your weapons or cleaning up before you head home. Eventually someone had asked you what it all was, are you okay, that whole deal. You faintly remember telling them you do some pretty extravagant LARPs and that was that.

When you reach the doors, you turn around and beckon him to follow you inside. He seems confused but follows you, trying to keep the jacket balanced on his shoulders.

Once he manages to get through the door, it's a simple enough matter to ignore him in the elevator and during the short few steps it takes to get to your place. You enter with a slight flourish, as though showing off, and close the door behind the winged wonder. You lock it, then drop your keys in a big bowl that you think Dave gave you, because it's got shitty comics all along the sides.

As far as apartments go, it isn't big or small. Kinda average, you guess; it's got a living room/kitchen thing, a bedroom, a bathroom, and quite the number of windows. There's not much in the way of furniture- you spend your paycheck on parts for your robots and paying the rent, not on decking out your home. The lack of furniture doesn't mean it's clean, though, which is something that you should probably fix. There's puppets littering the floors, swords leaning against the walls, and days-old food containers still sitting on the kitchen counter. You think there's still some of Wednesday's chow mein in one of them. But hey, it's home.

You glance over and nod towards the couch, then say, "Take a seat." He frowns at you, crossing his arms and looking like he's about to say something, but you disappear into your bedroom before he can.

The pistols and your sword are hung from a shelf near the door while your phone's laid to charge near your computer. You kick off your shoes and socks, throwing them so that they're in the general area of under-the-shelf-and-by-the-door. Then you take a seat on your bed and sigh, debating the best course of action.

It'd be simple enough to kill him now. Get everything done. Your current goal completed. But, major issue: you do not want to have to get blood and shit out of your carpet and couch. That sounds like extra work, expensive work, that you'd rather not do.

But… You really can't say if you still want him dead. Do you still want the paycheck that comes with his decapitated head? Hell yeah. Do you want to let him go on his merry way and get yelled at by HQ? Hell no. But do you want to actually kill the guy? Maybe not.

That leaves letting him live and figuring out what to do later. The easiest of the solutions, no doubt, but you… you aren't sure what you want to do with the guy.

You sigh and open one of your desk drawers, staring blackly inside. You suppose if you're going to be playing host, you may as well pull out all the stops. So you reach inside and pull your first aid kit out, then walk back out to find him sitting on the couch, eyes half-closed. You can't tell if he's trying to fall asleep or just trying not to focus on the pain, but either way you pick your jacket up off the floor. You guess he must have dropped it, and you throw it towards the door you just came through. You'll find time to wash it later.

It takes a second to find a small bottle and a bundle of cotton from the kit, and then you're kneeling and poking the guy in the stomach. He flinches and his eyes snap open and it looks like he's ready to bolt, so you give him a look from behind your shades and raise your eyebrows. He makes a face at you, but slowly (and probably painfully) extends his broken wing for you to look at.

Man, you really did a number on the dude. There's matted feathers and blood and while you've never fixed another person up like this, might as well try to get him back on his… well. Wings.

Hard enough to clean wounds on a human with skin that you know how to work with. Feathers? You have no idea what you're doing with feathers, but you're trying. He keeps twitching as you rub at the spot, clenching his fists together and making the weirdest of expressions. You wonder if his wings are ticklish or if it's just that painful.

It takes a while to finish up cleaning the mess that is now his wing. After several failed attempts at finding an easy way to bandage it, it ends up crisscrossing around feathers and doing all this tricky stuff. You lean back on your heels and run a hand through your hair, saying, "Remind me to just kill you next time. This shit's hard."

He glowers at you and crosses his arms. "I never did ask you to kill me. You've been trying for no reason that I can see - though if you'd be so kind as to tell me why, I don't suppose that's too much to ask?"

You shake your head a little, putting the bottle away. "Nah," is all you say, and that seems to bother him, but he doesn't press the matter further and you don't offer any information. You stand up and throw the used cotton balls in the trash, setting the first aid kit on the kitchen island, then you take a few more steps towards your jacket. When you pick it up, it’s a little hard to tell if the blood's already done its thing and made a giant stain or not. Better safe than sorry, you guess, so might as well try and wash it, see if that gets any of the possible blood out. So you throw it through your bedroom door and onto a pile with all the other laundry you'll have to do soon. You're running out of unbloodied shirts, but with your unexpected guest, you'll have to wait a little longer to clean them.

With that in mind, you walk over your desk and grab your now slightly-charged phone. You've been meaning to get a new one for a while, but between HQ not always paying up and your side jobs, you haven't been able to. You turn it on and reenter the living room, moving towards the kitchen.

Opening one of the drawers, you rummage around until you come up with a take-out menu for a pizza place a few blocks away. It's raining away outside, a constant tapping on the glass of the windows, something that makes the silence of the room seem less palpable. You punch the number into your phone and raise it to your ear, then look over at the couch and the guy still sitting on it, and raise an eyebrow. "Pepperoni good with you, dude?"

His eyes flick between the menu in your hand and the phone up against your ear before he nods once, turning back to face your TV. His gaze roams towards where the remote sits on coffee table, and he slowly reaches for it. When you don't tell him to leave it alone he picks up speed and fumbles with the remote before managing to turn the TV on. He flips through channels before landing on one that's showing some sci-fi flick and relaxes back into the couch to watch it.

You set the order for the pizza and the guy on the other end says that it might take longer than their thirty minute or less guarantee. The rain is making it difficult to do things requiring the outdoors, says the guy on the other end, and you tell him that's fine and hang up. With the food situation taken care of, you walk around the counter to rummage in the fridge for a drink. You end up grabbing an orange soda, some neutral store brand that's easier on your wallet.

Bird boy's still on the couch, transfixed by the aliens running around on screen. He seems startled when you sit down next to him and you grin. He watches you warily for a grand total of a minute, then turns back to the TV. It's clear you're putting him off his movie-watching game, so you pop the tab on the soda and turn your gaze towards your phone. That's good enough for him, you guess, because he relaxes a little into the couch.

With him focused on whatever is going on, you're able to see who it was that messaged you earlier. Five texts, all sent a little less than ten minutes apart, all from the same person. One Miss Roxy Lalonde, your sometimes partner in crime and best friend.

**[Ro-Lal]** dirkyyyyy [10:32]  
**[Ro-Lal]** dirk-a-dirk-a-drki [10:33]  
**[Ro-Lal]** *dirk, shit [10:33]  
**[Ro-Lal]** r u there?? [10:35]  
**[Ro-Lal]** UGH dirky u better call me when ur home, k? [10:41]

You make a face and tap out a reply, not surprised when she answers, even though it's late and she has work tomorrow. Though, she spends more time fussing with computers than you do, and it's far easier to sleep at a desk then it is when you're out and about.

**[Di-Stri]** Sorry I didn't answer you, Roxy. [11:44]  
**[Di-Stri]** I was in the middle of a job. [11:44]  
**[Di-Stri]** And I can't call right now. There's some movie on and there's a guy watching it next to me and it'd be a little distracting. [11:45]  
**[Ro-Lal]** dirky r u bein serious [11:46]  
**[Ro-Lal]** is there rly a boy in ur apptmnt [11:46]  
**[Ro-Lal]** *appartment [11:47]  
**[Ro-Lal]** **apartment [11:47]  
**[Ro-Lal]** dirky r u gettin some and not tellin me??? [11:48]  
**[Di-Stri]** I can assure you that I am not. [11:49]  
**[Di-Stri]** In all honesty, he was - is - the point of the job. But shit went down, so I brought him back to my place. [11:50]  
**[Ro-Lal]** does he have a cute butt? [11:51]  
**[Di-Stri]** Roxy. [11:51]  
**[Ro-Lal]** nuh-uh dirky u arent gettin outta this one [11:52]  
**[Ro-Lal]** r u gonna tell me if hes got a bangin ass or do I have to go over there and see for myself? [11:53]  
**[Di-Stri]** I don't know. I haven't exactly looked to see if he has a 'bangin ass' and it's not like I can just up and take a quick look. [11:53]  
**[Ro-Lal]** awwww dirky ur no fun [11:54]  
**[Di-Stri]** I am so sorry that I am no fun. [11:55]  
**[Ro-Lal]** its all k, u just gotta hang with me l8r to redeem urself ;) [11:56]  
**[Di-Stri]** All right. Not now, though, and not tomorrow. A couple days, maybe, once I figure out what I'm going to do about this guy. [11:57]  
**[Ro-Lal]** alrite dirk im gonna hold u to that [11:58]  
**[Di-Stri]** Sounds like a plan. [11:59]  
**[Di-Stri]** Okay, so the pizza's here and I have a movie that I have been ignoring for quite a while now. I'm going to get back to that. [12:01]  
**[Di-Stri]** I'll message you later, if you're still up and online. [12:02]  
**[Ro-Lal]** cya dirky!! [12:02]

Despite the rain, the pizza place held true to their under-thirty-minutes guarantee. It smells delicious and you can hear some sort of rumble from behind you as you pay for it, undoubtedly from the other guy's stomach. The door closes and you walk back, setting the box down on the table and dropping back onto the sofa. He's watching the box with undisguised hunger, fingers twitching idly in his lap as you open it and tear off a couple slices.

"Dude," you say, pausing in your actions, and moving slightly so that you're facing him. "Okay. There's one condition for your pizza." He frowns and begins to open his mouth, but you stop him and make a short 'tsk' noise, shaking your head. "Now, now, none of that. It's a simple one. It's not death or nothin', so don't get your panties in a bunch. You want your pizza, tell me your name." He's looking at you like you sprouted a second head and you sigh. "I can't keep callin' ya bro and dude. Pretty easy thing to do, just say your name and you get half the pizza."

Your second head seems to fade into nonexistence and he sighs, one hand rubbing up and down his arm. "English. Jake English." Jake, huh. Well, it's something to call him. But -

"Was that a Bond reference?"

He smiles, a little hesitantly, and nods. Looks like Jake English, the winged wonder, is a movie nerd.

You return the grin and pass him a piece of the pizza, reaching back into the box and grabbing a slice for yourself. It's greasy and smells like heaven, all melted cheese and crispy meat. Calorie-covered bliss.

Between bites, he starts talking again. "Well," he says, a little nervous, "you know my name." His gaze flicks in your direction and you nod slowly, trying to keep a single strand of cheese intact from your mouth to the pizza. He pauses, then, "Well, what's yours? I mean, it's only fair, and the same 'I can't keep calling you guy' kind of thing also works in this situation-"

You cut him off with a hand and break the cheese strand, swallowing before answering him. "Dude. I gave you pizza for your name. Pizza for a name, that was the trade, no take-backs."

He lets out a sharp breath and his glare turns into something more frustrated-looking. It's a little funny and you snort in the most unladylike fashion, earning another frustrated look from Jake. You guess you might as well give him some semblance of a name so that he'll shut up, for now.

"Jake." He looks hopeful for a second and you shrug, saying, "As far as names go, for now, you can call me Di-stri."

That gives him pause. He leans back a little, chewing absently on his pizza, and then asks, "What kind of a name is Di-stri?"

You wink at him, though you think it might be lost on him since your shades are still covering your eyes. "It's a secret." He's sputtering and you're grinning around your pizza and you almost feel as though the two of you could be friends, just two guys hanging out.

The rest of the night it spent in much the same way. You finish the movie, find another, and eat more than half the pizza before you finally close the lid. Jake looks pained to see the pizza disappearing from his sight when you shove it in the fridge, but you roll your eyes and remind him of breakfast and he perks back up.

The second movie ends soon after you sit back down. Jake doesn't look like he could handle another one, so you stand and disappear into your room to grab a spare blanket. You walk back out and throw it at him, which wakes him up a little, spluttering into the soft fabric.

"Okay, same rules. No blood on the blanket. The earlier 'no blood on the couch' still applies. If you wake up, there's stuff in the fridge. I'm gonna hope that you don't try to kill me in revenge, but if you do, my will is in the bottom desk drawer, blue folder. Leave it on the kitchen counter for whoever comes looking for it. Door's locked and if anyone knocks, I'm through there." You list, ending with one thumb thrown back over your shoulder to point at your bedroom door. He nods once and you grab your soda off the coffee table, returning to the doorway. "Right. Night, dude."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are revealed, Dirk is a gracious host, and a shitty rap-bot drops some sick beats.

You close the door behind you and finally take off your shades, setting them down by your bed, before booting up your computer. You plan on finishing up some programming you've been meaning to finish but weren't able to get around to earlier, what with Jake and all. But before you start working, you boot up the Pesterchum app and glance at Roxy's chumhandle. It's all grayed out - so she's either not home or asleep. You suppose you'll talk to her at some other point, before minimizing the window and opening your current project.

It takes a while to get it as perfect as you can. It's not that it was particularly complicated - just cleaning up some bugs with a previous project - but you're distracted by a particularly annoying piece of software. Back in ye olden days, when you were somewhere around fourteen, you had decided to recreate your personality to test some AI software you'd been thinking about. You don't know why you thought it'd be a great idea to put other-you in your shades, or why he hasn't seemed to age. You don’t know why he insists on bothering you even when you aren't wearing shades. You also don't know why you dubbed him the Auto-Responder, since he doesn't respond to anything.

Ever since you created AR, though, he's decided his favorite past time is bugging you while you work. So between AR's constant chatter about Jake and your work, you manage to waste the entire night working, and not sleeping. Not unheard of, he'd done it before and you're a little tired. Sure, this might be one of several days in a row you've gone without sleeping, but it's not like AR cares. Little shit. 

The sun rises as you finish and you raise your arms over your head to stretch, then stand. You make your way to one of the piles of clean clothes and puppets on the floor, then root around for a few minutes before finding something acceptably clean to change into. You end up throwing the dirty clothes into a different, far larger pile, by your desk. It's not that hard to do laundry and keep a steady supply of clean clothes in your room, but you're usually out of your apartment or busy with work or the little sleep you manage to get. You let out a long sigh and then head towards the door to see if Jake's up and to find some breakfast.

Jake's curled up on the couch, his spine as far as he can get from the back cushions without falling off to make room for his wings. He has the blanket you gave him last night balanced on top of him and his glasses are askew, still on his face. The way he's sleeping with his bandaged wing, stretched out a little behind and above him, looks painful. You waste a moment watching him sleep (you are a creep, it's you), then head towards the fridge.

The pizza's just as good cold as it was warm, so you munch away while you watch the window by the sink. The rain still hasn't let up and the sky is gray as ever, and from where you stand you can barely make out your truck - shit. You allow yourself a moment of regret. You probably could have covered the trunk to ensure it didn't turn into your own personal swimming pool overnight.

From the couch, you hear the sleepy snuffles that mean your guest's finally waking up. With all the grace of a good host, you grab a second slice of pizza and walk over to where Jake's blearily blinking himself awake. 

"Finally joining the realm of the living, sleeping beauty?" you ask as his half-asleep, half-awake unamused face peers up at you. He sits up, rubbing at his eyes, and you tap his hand with the pizza still in yours. It takes a second for him to recognize what you're doing but he takes the food and slowly eats.

You return to the kitchen and take the last two slices of pizza out the box and put them on a plate. You end up shoving the box by the trash can before returning to the couch and offering the plate to Jake. "Do you want them?" 

He nods and takes the plate out of your hands, eating faster now that he's woken up fully. He holds the pizza with one hand and uses the other to fix his glasses and flatten out the top of his hair into something that looks less like bedhead, though with little success. His hair unmanageable, messy and wild. You shudder to think what you'd do with hair like that, what with all the care you put into yours. 

"I, ah, wanted to thank you," Jake starts, snapping you out of your thoughts. "For not killing me. And for the food, too; I must admit that it was… unexpected. And rather gracious." 

You shrug and nod a little. "Figured it'd be better to not let you starve."

He manages a sort of half-smile at that and laughs, finishing up the pizza. He stretches and stands to look you in the eyes before awkwardly glancing around and rubbing at the back of his head with his hand. "Well, ah, Di-stri, was it? Mm. Yes, well, if you'd be so kind, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you?" 

You grin. "Sounded like that was one of 'em." 

His faces scrunches up in frustration and he looks like he wants to punch you. "Now see here, Di-stri! You know quite well what I meant and I only ask - no, demand! - that you answer my questions!" His wings are doing this funny waving thing and while you're certain he's being serious right now, he seems almost comical with the waving feathers behind his head. 

"Well," you say, "shoot. The questions, I mean. I'd rather you didn't actually shoot me." You drop down onto the couch and tap your fingers against your leg as he sputters and then seems to collect himself.

"First off, I would like to know why you were trying to kill me in that alleyway." 

You shrug. "Routine job. Got a file with your picture and a hefty sum should I take you out. They've been skipping out on paying me lately, figured I might as well track you down."

"I… well. I see." He frowns, thinking, then asks, "Who exactly are 'they', and how did you find me, exactly? I'd only just gotten to this particular city." He adds the last bit almost as an afterthought and frowns. 

"'They' are the people that pay me. And a load of other people, too, for that matter. We do all sorts of things, usually stuff the higher-ups don't want to. Assassinations, hacking, I think there's been a few bodyguard-type things but I've never taken them." You pause, then continue with a slight shrug. "As for how I found you, I have a few friends that live and breathe computers. When they aren't doing jobs of their own I can usually get them to help with mine. Didn't take too long for one of 'em to work his magic, he told me security footage from around town had picked out your face. Dunno how you managed to be here just I started looking for you, but it made my life easier."

That earns you another frown. "Isn't that illegal?" When you only smirk, he sighs and runs a hand through his hair, messing it up quite a bit more. "Illegal or not, I suppose I do have only a few more." He sits down next to you, crossing his legs and facing you. "Is anyone else going to try and kill me? Are you going to try and kill me again? And what exactly am I to do now?"

"I'm the only one who took the file. Pretty sure no one else looked in it before me, though I guess someone might have glanced at it. I wouldn't worry about anyone going after you, for a little bit, at least. I'm not supposed to head in until tomorrow, and if I tell them that you aren't dead they might be a little disappointed but they'll just get someone else to do it. If that happens you might have a bit of an issue, but until then there's not much anyone'll try and do. Plus, I've still got the file. Somewhere. They'd need it to put anyone else on the job." You pause, then add, "Of course, the only reason your file was out there is the fact that you're the winged wonder. HQ, that's what I work for, they don't really like mutants."

Jake takes this in, looking discontented as his wings shuffle around a little, and you take this as your cue to continue. "As for me killing you, I don't think I really feel like doin' that. It'd make a right mess of my place and I'd have to find a way to clean it all up. Call me lazy, I won't deny it, but blood is a bitch to get out of fabric." He looks at you with an expression you'd call 'dude please no' and you grin at him.

You continue with a question of your own. "Before, you said you'd only just gotten here. Why are you here, exactly? That'd probably give me some idea of what to do with you." 

He lets out a shaky breath. "I was looking for someone. My cousin, Jade. We live together, have since we were young, and she… up and left, I suppose. Though I'm not entirely certain she left of her own volition; she'd never have just up and gone without saying goodbye." He pauses and then adds, "Though if she did leave on her own, I'm not going to go about trying to drag her back. Oh, no! I just want to know if she's okay. Peace of mind, you know?"

"Why this city in particular? This ain't exactly a city of dreams, bro." 

He shrugs. "She made several friends over the internet, back home, and often exchanged gifts with them, so I'm going to assume that she knows their addresses? I actually spoke to one of them, first, though he hadn't seen her. He mentioned that two of their mutual friends live around this area and that she may have popped over to meet them; can't say I blame her for wanting to meet her friends! So I flew over and, well, you know what happens next." He looks over at you a little sheepishly, then down at his hands. 

You make to stroke the beard you don't have and frown at the wall. "I can't say for sure, but you're the only one with wings I've seen. If your cousin, this Jade girl, did come here, do you know where her friends live, or what their names are?"

"I'm afraid I won't be much help there. I never spoke to either of them, and she usually only referred to them as 'my friend, the one who does such-and-such'." He trails off, then says, "Oh, but she isn't. Winged. She's perfectly human, in all respects."

You nod slowly, then say, "All right. Well, there isn't much I can do with names you don't remember. I can ask a few friends to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Aside from that, until you either remember those names or something else equally important, there probably won't be much. So this is just gonna be you sitting around, really, unless you want to go messing around outside. You might be fine? Not gonna lie, bro, I dunno who else might know that you're bird-boy and who might be out their wanting to off you."

He sighs. "I see. Well, as much as I do want to get back out there - I don't think I could." His hand goes to the edges of his still-bandaged wing, then he says, "I wouldn't want to be stuck somewhere with one limb crippled and your coworkers coming after me."

"You're welcome to do it anyways," you say. "I won't stop you. You might even find your cousin quicker that way - as long as you don't get your ass handed to you."

He puffs up a little and starts off talking about something like "my ass has not once been handed to me" but you tune him out and stand up, wiping the dust that isn't on your hands off on your jeans. "Well," you say, "the remote's there and there's stuff in the fridge if you get a case of the munchies. Have at it, bro." 

You can feel Jake watching you as you grab another orange soda from the fridge and return to your room. This time, you leave the door open, and the sounds of Jake turning on the TV to some sappy 80's romance makes their way to your ears. 

The rest of the day is spent pretty normally, from your perspective. You work on some coding you'd been meaning to do for a while, push all the dirty clothes into a basket so that you'll feel forced to wash them sometime soon, and you manage to sneak in a half-hour nap. When you wake up, the TV's still playing and poking your head out of your room proves that Jake's currently engrossed in another movie. So you walk out, taking both empty cans of orange soda with you, and dump them in the trash. You turn around and jump a little because holy crap, Jake's suddenly right behind you, the stealthy bastard.

He jumps too, as if surprised you didn't notice him. "Oh! Sorry, chap, I thought you knew I was here!" You stutter out something sounding like an "um" and he takes that as a sign that 'yeah okay, it's all good' because he plows right on. "I was just wondering - where is the bathroom?"

You frown. "Did I forget to tell you where that was? Jeez, okay. It's through my room, follow me." He follows you back through your door and you point to the bathroom. "In there," you say, and as the door closes you sit at your desk and pick up a pen, twirling it absently through your fingers. You would've thought you'd have shown it to him earlier. Huh. At any rate, it doesn't matter as much as you're making it out to be, and so you set the pen down and get back to your computer.

A few minutes pass, and then his head sticks out from behind the door. He clears his throat to get your attention, then asks, "You wouldn't happen to have any fresh bandages, would you?" 

"Yeah," you say. "Hold on just a sec." A quick trip to the kitchen later, you pass him the first aid kit, which he takes with a quiet 'thank you' and then the door's quickly closed. You return to your desk and get lost in your work, not noticing when Jake exits until he stops by your desk to give you back the kit. As you put the kit back in your drawer, he glances around at the various things you have cluttering the top of your desk. He admires a few prototypes of your shades with wires still poking out of them, then picks up a robotic hand to get a better look at it. "Did you make this?" He asks, and you nod. "Does it work?"

"Sometimes," you say, "when it's hooked up properly." He looks curiously at you as you push your chair away from your desk and towards a sheet-covered object. You pull both it and yourself back to the desk and remove the sheet, then set about connecting wires so that the hand's back where it's supposed to be. It doesn't take terribly long, and then you fuss a bit more until everything's to your liking.

As you do this, you can feel Jake's eyes watching your every move. He hasn't said a word since you started working, but once you finish, he lets out an excited "great Caesar's ghost!" as Squarewave comes to life.

"HEY YO D-STRIZZLE," says the robot, and Jake gasps. "WHAT'S BEEN DONE TO MY HAND? FEELS ALL TINGLY AND SHIT."

"That's probably because it's a new one that just got connected," you reply. "Finished fixing it up earlier, and just got around to hooking you back up. You can thank this guy for that." 

Squarewave turns to look at Jake and his head starts bobbing. "NEW GUY IN TOWN, HUH?" Jake nods, looking delighted that Squarewave's talking to him. Squarewave's head starts bobbing harder and his new hand starts twitching as he gets ready to lay down some sick rhymes.

"WELL HOMES  
YOU BETTER KNOW A THING OR TWO  
'CUZ I'M ABOUT TO MOTHERFUCKIN SCHOOL YOU  
DOGG, I GOT NOTHIN TO LOSE  
AND I AIN'T HERE TO AMUSE  
SO SIT THAT SHIT DOWN AND TAKE A STEP BACK  
'CUZ MY RHYMES ARE JUST THAT WHACK  
DON'T EVEN TRY TO TAKE A CRACK  
AT THESE SICK BEATS THAT JUST DON'T SLACK  
WORD!"

You bite your lip to keep from laughing at Jake as he just stands there, dumbfounded, and Squarewave continues bobbing his head. A few seconds pass and then Jake's whirling around to face you.

"That was simply sensational! Di-stri, you did this all yourself?" When you nod, Jake's wings start moving, and the rest of him can't keep still. In the understatement of the century, you'd hazard to say that he seems excited. "I - that's amazing!"

The corners of your mouth twitch upwards. "Yeah? Well, thanks, bro. Though - probably best not to keep the rap-bot waiting. You want to answer him, or should I?"

Jake's eyes widen and he whirls around once more and - oh, no. He's terrible at rapping.

A long half hour later sees you struggling to maintain a straight face and Jake gets absolutely wrecked by the rap-bot you've been able to best since you were sixteen. Eventually you just can't take it anymore and you turn Squarewave off, much to Jake's disappointment. 

"Bro, relax," you say. "You can mess with Squarewave tomorrow. Don't want to overexert him, even robots need their beauty sleep."

Jake sighs. "I suppose. Squarewave, is that his name? Mm." He pauses, then asks, "How long have you had him?"

"Nine years, give or take. I was fifteen or so and had just figured out AI systems, so of course the next logical step was to make a rapping robot." 

The dumbfounded look's back. "You were fifteen? Jiminy Christmas. That's - wow." 

"Yeah. Well," you stand up and move Squarewave back to the corner of your room he'd been standing in, "robots are kinda my thing. More so than killing people, believe it or not." 

Jake laughs and then says, "I'll believe it, after that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally half of a much larger chapter. I'd love to leave it as that much larger chapter, but I figured that 5000+ word chapters would be a bit much (first chapter excluded). So enjoy this slightly smaller, ~3000 word chapter instead.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A massive dog wielding a sword is a legitimate cause of death, news at 11.

Your alarm goes off early the next morning and startles you out of whatever dream you'd been having. Something about purple, maybe, you think as you fumble awkwardly on the nightstand for the off button. By the time you remember that you'd pushed it off the nightstand yesterday, you're no longer in that sweet spot between awareness and sleep where you can just go "Hmm. Yeah, I'm gonna go back to sleep". 

With a sigh, you kick off the covers and swing your feet off the side of your bed, blearily blinking at the floor. You try to remember what you're doing today and if wasting another hour trying to fall back asleep is a viable option. You hope it's a viable option. As you try to remember, your gaze falls on a stack of manila folders on the side of your desk, almost tipping off the edge, and you let out a quiet groan before standing up. You have to get back to HQ today and give them your report, maybe grab another job, and if memory serves you might have to swing by the grocery store, too. Shit, that means you'll have to find clean clothes. 

You make your way over to one of the piles of semi-clean clothes littering your floor (because closets don't exist, nope, what's a closet) and start looking. Pants are pants, no one cares about pants, but trying to find a shirt/jacket combo that's gonna be warm enough (because it's probably still raining outside) is slightly more annoying. One of the many cons of having lived in Texas your whole life: a severe lack of cold weather clothing. Once you've found some that don't smell funky, you drop them on your bed and start pulling off your own to change. A sharp intake of breath from the door makes you stiffen and you whirl around, the shirt you fell asleep in still somewhat wrapped around your lower arms. 

Jake stands in the doorway, staring at you, and you stare right back until he clears his throat somewhat awkwardly. Your eyes flick around a little and without the protective darkness of your shades, you feel - something. You don't know what you feel, but it isn't good. And you certainly aren't sure if you want to know what bird-boy extraordinaire thinks of your weird orange eyes. You were sent after him because he was different, with his wings and all. What if he decides to tell on you to someone who'd believe that eyes like yours were a symptom of some greater difference and you end up dead? Well, shit, that's something you didn't want to think about.

But his eyes weren't glued to yours, they were staring at your side, and he takes a few tentative steps forwards and then another so that he's facing your back. You become acutely aware of his breathing and something in you is desperately telling you to turn around and get him out while the rest of you has shut down because his fingers are tracing your shoulder blades and oh shit his hand's cold. 

"Uh. Jake?" You manage to say, trying to stay as still as you can, because holy fuck this is really weird.

His fingers twitch and then still and you're sure he hadn't been paying attention to the rest of you. "Yes? Ah, this is probably a bit strange, isn't it!" He laughs a little, nervous, then says, "It's - your back seems so plain, without wings." 

You blink and finish taking your shirt off so that your arms are free. Once that's done, you turn your head so that you're speaking over your shoulder and can glare at him a little, sideways though it may be. "Wow, I'm flattered."

He finally removes his hands from your back you turn around fully to face him, and his expression isn't hurtful or even mocking. It's simple, childlike wonder. He shrugs a little and looks away, one hand moving to rub at the back of his head as he says, "Not like that! It's just strange to me, that's all." 

"Huh," is all you can manage, because he turns back to you and his eyes meet yours and well, there's that cat out of the metaphorical bag. You can see his fingers twitching and raising slightly as if to touch you again and you instinctively flinch and close your eyes. For several long moments, nothing happens, and then his fingers are on your cheek and you can feel your heartbeat in your throat. 

Jake clears his throat, then, in a soft voice, asks, "Di-stri?" When you don't respond, he continues. "Are you scared of me?"

You crack open one eye and goddammit, he's moved closer in the short seconds your eyes were closed. You try to speak, but all that comes out is a rasping noise, so you swallow once and shake your head. His fingers stay where they are but it's almost as if they're getting heavier and holding you in place, and ever so slowly you open both your eyes. He's still staring at you, at them, but he doesn't look the way you expect him to. There's no shock or fear or anger in his eyes, there's not that look that old people sometimes get when they become convinced you're going to go to hell, there's just… curiosity. 

"Are you scared of me?"

He repeats the question slowly, as if speaking any faster might cause you to - okay no, stop that train of thought at the station, you're not going to freak out about this. Nope. Not you. You are going to calm the fuck down ASAP and then you are going to politely tell him to remove his hand from your face before you end up removing it from his body. So instead of being truthful and nodding a little like you want to, you swallow and say, "Nah, dude, not in a million years." 

You have a feeling that he doesn't believe you, especially after your voice cracks on the last word. But it's too late for that and while he frowns at you, his eyebrows scrunched up and eyes probing, you lean your head away and his hand falls to his side. You look away from him and clear your throat, then say, "I'm not scared of you." 

He looks at you and gives you a mom look, the kind that means 'I don't believe you'. You raise your arms a little helplessly and fall back so that you're sitting on your bed, then put your face in your hands and groan into your fingers. You lean forwards so your elbows rest on your knees and you can hear him take a couple hesitant steps towards you. 

"I'm not scared of you," you mumble, the words slightly muffled by your hands, "I'm scared of what you might do. Or think." You're not sure if he caught the last part until the bed suddenly shifts and you can feel a warm leg pressed to your own. He sat down, curse the bastard to the ends of the earth, he's fucking touching you again and you feel like you can't breathe. 

"Are you," he says, softly, and it sounds thoughtful. "Because of your eyes?" You nod - well, it certainly isn't your hair, now is it - and he makes one of those 'hmm' noises. You spread your fingers a little so that you can see the floor through them and try to concentrate on breathing. "That's awfully strange. Why would you be afraid of people seeing your eyes? They're rather… exotic, maybe, but that word doesn't seem quite right." You can hear his feathers ruffling as he speaks, little rustling noises, and you take a moment to wonder if this is his way of scratching his head in deep thought. 

The moment passes and you let out a breath and drop your hands to your lap, but your gaze remains fixed on the floor. "I told you about the kind of jobs I do, and how mutants are pretty damn unwelcome? Yeah." You shrug kinda helplessly, then say, "I'm not going to go strolling into HQ with my freaky eyes and expect to remain safe and sound. They've - I've - killed people for far worse reasons than eye color before, just the suspicion is enough for them. And I'm rather attached to my life, as it is. I’m not gonna go throwin' it away."

Jake's silent for a few minutes and you risk a glance over his way. He's staring thoughtfully at the wall, eyes slightly unfocused behind those weirdly thick glasses of his. A few seconds later, he startles you by saying, "Why work for them?"

That gives you pause, but you shrug again and look away from him. "It's a job. I've got skills that they can make use of and a few of my friends had already started working there. If I didn't voluntarily sign up for it they might have found me and gotten me join anyways, I don’t know. But I will tell you this, there's a severe lack of sword-wielding robotics majors in this city. Especially so when you narrow the search down to only include those with ties to HQ. Apparently, if you're buddy-buddy with people already there, you're a shoe in for a job."

"So you only joined because you knew people that already worked for them?" He sounds surprised and you nod slowly. "Di-stri. That is a truly awful reason. Even if I overlook that, it's still hard for me to see where you're coming from! You say you have a major in robotics; why can't you just use that to get yourself a job that, well, doesn't involve killing people?"

You're silent now, and that apparently doesn't sit well with Jake. He turns slightly so that he's facing you, then pushes on your shoulder so that you're facing him, too. Your heart's racing and you're not sure if it's from fear or something else but you're praying to every god you've ever heard of that he can't feel it through your skin. Jake says your name again, but you don't quite hear him and you just stop and close your eyes. That’s a good question, Jake. Why did you join up with these people?

Oh, yeah. Because if there's one thing that's stuck with you all these years, it's an image of you clutching at Dave while your Bro wipes down his sword. You're staring at the body of some kid that tried to jump you three lying covered in blood and staining the sidewalk - you should wonder why Bro brought a sword with him while going on a walk with his younger brothers, but you just watched a kid die and you're scared out of your mind. And then Bro's kneeling down in front of you and pushing his shades up his face so that he can meet your eyes, two equally orange gazes. 

For a minute it's his hand, not Jake's, resting on your shoulder. You're fourteen again, and it's his voice saying, "Dirk, little dude, I want you to listen to me and I want you to remember this. You, or me, or Dave could have been hurt, y'know? I won't always be around to do that. I want you to promise me that if some kid," he jabs his thumb over his shoulder at the body, "tries to hurt Dave, or hurt you, or hurt me, you'll be ready." You nod mutely. You're fourteen and you just saw someone die for the first time and all you know is that you trust Bro.

Fast-forward a few years and you find yourself standing next to Dave. You both sport ridiculously dark shades to mask your eyes and you both are looking up at the large office building that houses HQ - Bro's old work. It's been a year since he died, a freak accident with what his higher-ups called a 'massive dog wielding a sword'. You're not sure what they meant by that, but you know that both you and Dave are still only just getting back into the swing of things. You're moving on with your lives. And you're watching your little brother out of the corner of your eye and then you're saying, "You sure you wanna do this?"

He nods and says, "Yeah. C'mon, the rest of our lives awaits. It's a fuckin' fairy tale ending, dude; our castle'll be an office building." And he flashes you one of those shit-eating grins that you didn't see for months after your Bro died, and he throws open the door and holds it, like one of those doormen in fancy hotels. "After you," he says, even adding in a bow and doffing an imaginary hat for the ironies, and you return his grin before you go off to continue where your Bro left off. Because you have to protect Dave, you two have to stick together, and if this is what Dave's gonna do, you'll do it too. 

A soft voice snaps you out of your head, and you see Jake peering at you, looking a little worried. "Are - are you okay? You just started staring at your hands, and you weren't blinking. At all. It was a little unnerving."

You give a hoarse laugh, then swallow. "Because of my brother," you say. "Because my Bro died and then my brother joined and I had to follow him. Had to keep a promise." 

Jake looks at you in surprise and you laugh again, stronger this time, and you feel yourself relaxing. One of your bigger secrets, something that - well, that probably only Dave knows, actually, though you can't remember if you told Roxy. But you just told the guy that two days ago you were planning on killing. Your laughter continues and Jake keeps looking at you like you sprouted wings (ha ha) and you just can't stop. It's fucking hysterical. 

It takes a few minutes for you to calm down, and by the time you're able to look at Jake again, you can see the corners of his mouth curved upwards in the barest hint of a smile. You breathe in a couple times, then say, "So now you know my entire life's story. The important bits, anyway. Most of them." You shrug and straighten up and look him in the eyes before standing. Then you turn and make an exaggerated shooing motion with your hands and say, "Now, out with you. Unless you'd rather trade in your Seen-A-Dude-Without-A-Shirt club card for a deluxe Seen-A-Dude-Without-A-Shirt-Or-Pants membership."

Jake's face goes red and he hurriedly stands up and goes to the door, then pauses and turns around. "Di-stri?" You pause and glance over, and he says, "I just - thank you for telling me." 

You stare at him for a minute, then nod and the corners of your mouth twitch up. "No problem, bro." He smiles back, and starts to leave again but you call out, "Wait." 

He stops and looks at you, curious, and your grin becomes more genuine and less of a smirk. "Dirk," you say. "Name's Dirk Strider, and now you know everything." His mouth makes this little 'o' of surprise and you wink, causing his face to redden even more, and then he disappears from your sight. You laugh a little under your breath, then hurriedly start changing before Jake decides to come back. Let's face it - you don't actually want to have another heartfelt talk while you're half naked. Or completely naked, for that matter.

You emerge from your room a few minutes later in a clean shirt and some slightly beat-up jeans, shades in hand. Jake's got the TV running again, this time playing something you faintly recognize. Some movie one of Dave's friends adores, you think, but you can't remember what it's called. Dave watched it with the kid and when he got home, he told you it was quite possibly the worst movie ever written. Then the little shit went into a two-hour rant about how corny it was, and how terrible, and blah blah blah, Dave's a giant nerd.

He glances up at you as you head towards the door. "Going somewhere?"

You nod. "Yeah, I've got to go tell HQ that you ain't dead." You slip your shades on and grab a jacket from the floor, then pause. "Well, I think I might be able to get away with telling them that you are dead." 

"Would it be bad if I am presumed dead?" 

"Maybe?" You shrug. "I honestly don't know, bro, they usually want proof or something. But if they think you're dead, no one else is gonna come after you, unless you start showing your face around town." 

He takes this in, then nods. "All right, I suppose."

You slip your jacket on, grab your keys, open the door, and step out. "I'm gonna lock the door, don't let anyone in," you call back to Jake, and he makes a general noise of agreement as you close the door behind you. You lock it, then slip your keys back in your pocket and head downstairs to drain your truck-turned-pool and make your way to HQ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second half of what was chapter two. 
> 
> That aside, chapter four is written, but needs some serious editing, and I'm in the middle of writing chapter five. I think chapter four should be out kinda soon? Ish? Maybe? (I say this only because Roxy's in that one and she's my absolute favorite character, love that girl, I hope to include her quite a bit more). So that shouldn't take too long.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dirk acquires some cash and relieves some of his worries with a caring friend, marking the Roxy & Dirk bit of the relationships tag truthful.

You pull into the parking lot outside of HQ and turn off the engine, then waste a few minutes just sitting there and thinking. In all honesty, you're not sure how you're going to go about telling HQ that Jake is or isn't dead. If they do want the proof that you don't have, you'll have to make up some excuse about how it's at your apartment, but then they might decide to show up themselves to pick it up. Or they might give you a clap on the back and send you on your merry way. It really depends on who's there to tell. With a sigh, you get out of your truck and hurry towards HQ, trying to stay as dry as possible.  
  
You enter HQ without fanfare. The entire first floor of the office building is a large room, big and empty, except for a receptionist's desk sitting by a pair of doors. You make your way towards that desk, ignoring the few people lounging around in armchairs. Most of them are random people off the street looking for a place to get out of the rain, you think.

The receptionist, a tall, quiet woman doubles as a mail lady on her days off, glances up at you as you walk towards to the elevator. You give her a nod and she returns it, then goes back to what looks like a crossword puzzle. Past her, a single man with a leather jacket and a shirt that looks suspiciously like caution tape stands by the elevator doors. He watches you carefully as you approach, then steps aside to allow you access. You're not sure what happens if he doesn't allow someone to use the elevators. You don't think you want to.  
  
The elevators are empty, as usual, and you step off on the fifth floor. There aren't many people around, since this floor's only for job pickup and turn-in. You can see Aradia off in one corner on her phone, glaring at the wall. From where you are, you can hear her say something that sounds suspiciously like "it doesn't matter if they're already dead, just hurry up and send them".  
  
You walk past Aradia hurriedly, making your way through a maze of potted plants and desks until you're almost to the job board. You get closer and spot Rose, the resident therapist (and the only one that enjoys being on desk duty), sitting in front of the job board and holding a cup of coffee.  
  
Looks like you're in luck. Rose asks a load of questions, sure, but only if she thinks something's up, and she's never been one to insist on proof. She sees you coming and takes one final sip of her coffee, watching you over the brim. Then she sets her cup down and steeples her fingers, smiling at you in that odd way of hers as you approach.  
  
"Hello, Dirk," she says, once you're within hearing range, "Already done with the job? I'm impressed."  
  
"Aren't we all," you respond, and she laughs. "Only hard bit about that job was findin' the dude. But of course, now the even harder bit," you pull over a chair and drop down gracelessly, "is getting paid for doing it."  
  
Rose raises her eyebrows. "Oh? Well, now let me see." She picks up a large binder and flips through it to a tab with your name on it, then to the back, where the list of jobs you've taken is. It's only a few seconds before she finds what she's looking for, and then she speaks up again, saying, "He was one of those mutants, wasn't he? That raises your pay considerably." She starts fussing with some numbers on a pad of paper and you take a moment to breathe, then stare out the window. It's still pouring outside and you find yourself wishing you had brought an umbrella.  
  
You're snapped out of your thoughts when Rose clears her throat and passes you an envelope. You take it, frowning as you pinch it between two fingers. "Rose, this feels pretty thin to me. You sure you're not skimping out on payin' me again?"  
  
She smiles again. "You can check it if you'd like." And so you do, letting out a low whistle as you get a good look at what's inside. Enough to cover your rent, food, and all that fun stuff, as well as various other, less essential things. Your pains with your phone come to mind. "Is that all, or are you here to find something else to do?"  
  
You pause putting the envelope away in your jacket and look up at the board behind Rose. On one hand, it's something to do and it'd get you more pay. On the other, you don't exactly relish the idea of leaving Jake alone in your apartment while you work, and you should be covered for a bit with what you have now. So you shake your head, saying, "Nah. I've got some stuff that needs doing. I'll talk to you later, Rose."  
  
Rose inclines her head and returns to her coffee with a 'goodbye, Dirk' as you stand and make your way back to the elevator. Aradia's just off the phone, scowling down at it before punching in some number and raising it back to her ear. She catches sight of you and waves at you, then gets caught up in some argument that you can still hear after the sliding doors to the elevator close behind you.  
  
With the doors closed, you push the button for the third floor and slouch against the wall until you arrive with a metallic 'ding'. Third floor's all sorts of electronics, wires crisscrossing the floor and really expensive, really big computers lining the walls. Your kind of place, you think, and you almost wish you spent more time down here. You spot Roxy in her usual place, in front of the largest computer and playing a video game. She pauses every few minutes, trading in shooting zombies for doing her usual work in usual Roxy fashion.  
  
You walk over and pull up a seat next to her, startling her into saying, "Whoa-o-oa yes look I am totes almost done breaking this thing - ohmigosh Dirky you scared the shit outta me!" You laugh and she pulls you in for a hug, squeezing you tightly before letting go and fixing you with a sharp look. "I thought you said you were with a boy," she says, looking around dramatically, "and I don't see any boys but you and bee-butt over there!"  
  
A muffled "I heard that" comes over from where Sollux is lying across his keyboard, one hand raised above his head to flip you two off. Roxy giggles a little, then turns back to you and raises an eyebrow, clearly waiting for an explanation.  
  
"Roxy, that was two days ago," you start, gaining yourself a 'well?' look. "Okay, geez. Yes, I was with a boy. We watched like two movies, he ate most of my pizza and stared at me shirtless, and right now I think he's probably on my couch."  
  
She blinks a few times, absorbing the information, then squeals. "Dirk, you got laid, didn't you? Oh, my god, yes, you did, Dirk this is huge, I am going to throw you a party, it will be huge, and-"  
  
You quickly push a hand over her mouth, making a face that makes her smile under your palm. "Okay, wow, no, no one got laid, calm down." You can hear Sollux laughing from his desk and add, "Especially not half-assed computer nerds with duality kinks," just for his benefit.  
  
You remove your hand from Roxy's face, and lean in slightly, whispering, "Okay, I told you he was the point of the job, right?" She pauses, then nods slowly and frowns at you. "It wasn't a job called 'go pick up a dude'. It was more or less 'go kill the dude'."  
  
"Yea- wait. What."  
  
"Yeah, well, don't get me wrong, I was gonna go through with the whole killing him bit, but there were people heading towards where we were fighting and just - I took him back to my apartment and he's still alive. He's not dead. That's a problem."  
  
She props up one elbow on her knee, resting her chin on her palm, and continues frowning at you. "Did you tell - Rosie's up there right now, right? Did you tell her you killed 'im?" You nod and she grins. "Well, problem solved! Now everyone thinks lover-boy's dead, soooo you know what that means." She waggles her eyebrows and you groan.  
  
"That's only half true, really. It's, um." Her frown's back. "He's a mutant. The one Sollux helped me find? You were elbow-deep in paperwork? He was bitching the entire time? Ring any bells?"  
  
She stares at you, then says, "Dirk."  
  
"No, Roxy, don't-"  
  
"Dirk."  
  
"…What?"  
  
"Dirk, this is forbidden romance. Now you HAVE to get laid."  
  
Your head falls into your hands and you groan again. This seems to only encourage Roxy and she says, "Aw, Dirky, cheer up! If you told Rose he's dead, then to all HQ he's dead, and you two can have at it without anyone suspecting a thing!"  
  
"The only thing anyone suspects is that you're going to start making crude jokes. Don't make crude jokes, my pain is not hilarious, it is very serious and you should stop."  
  
She laughs and rests a hand on your shoulder and you lift your head slightly. "Dirk, are you stressing about this?" You slowly nod and she gives you a faintly amused look. "No one's going to check to see if he's already in the ground, Dirky. Or in a morgue, or in a lake, or wherever it is you hide dead bodies. Don't give me that look, I know you have a special dead body hidey-hole somewhere, and believe me when I say one of these days I will find it."  
  
You make a face at her and she laughs again. "Okay, that aside, no one's gonna check. They'll take your word for it, albeit your lyin'-outta-your-ass word. And they won't think twice about it. Unless he shows up somewhere, but I mean, Dirk, there's one solution to that prob-"  
  
"Right, okay, there is absolutely no need to finish that sentence!" You interrupt her and she grins wickedly, waggling her eyebrows again. You shake your head, then offer her a slight smile, saying, "At any rate, thanks, Roxy. That's… actually helped a lot."  
  
She cheers, fist pumping into the air, and Sollux starts complaining from his desk. Well, shit, you had forgotten he was there. You really hope he didn't hear any of that, because one: you aren't sure how he'd react to knowing a guy he helped you find (to kill) is not dead. And also two: some of what you just said is just the kind of thing he'd love to lord over you forever.  
  
You clear your throat and Roxy turns away from Sollux mid-raspberry. "I'm gonna head out now," you say. "I've got some groceries with my name on them, ready to start a new life in the promised land that is my fridge, and I'm not one to deny them that." She grins and gives you a thumbs up with a loud "See ya, Dirky!" before you take your leave.  
  
You eye the rain outside of HQ with disdain, then take a deep breath and push open the doors, flashstepping as fast as you dare to your truck. If there's one thing you don't feel like doing, it's falling on your ass in a puddle because you weren't watching where you 'stepped. A few minutes later has you pulling into another parking lot, where you hurry from the nearly-deserted lot and into the grocery store, trying to stay as dry as possible.

It's a little cold once you get inside, but you make your rounds and grab the essentials:  
\- one of those large cardboard boxes of orange soda  
\- instant noodles  
\- canned soup  
\- junk food in various flavors  
\- a carton of eggs for the once-a-month "Yes, Roxy, I cook food here look at my breakfast"  
  
Once that's done, you take a moment and wander the aisles, stopping in front of a large display for popcorn. As you stand there, Jake crosses your mind, and with him comes the fact that he's always watching movies on your TV. You grab a couple boxes of popcorn and dump them on the rest of your load, then make your way to the checkout.  
  
From there, it's easy enough to get your purchases back in the car and drive off, making a quick stop to pick up a tarp at some hardware store. After this morning's adventure where you discovered exactly how much water your truck could hold, you'd found that you really, really hate draining it all out. Not to mention your spare shirt and toolbox got fucking soaked to their nonexistent bones.  
  
You pull into the parking lot outside your apartment and start to cover the back of your truck, messing around with the tarp a little to figure out how you're supposed to do this. You're not sure if you're doing it right - something tells you that you'll end up dumping water off the tarp tomorrow, which will be massive amounts of annoying. But for now, you don't care, because your hair is getting in your eyes and starting to frustrate you.  
  
Ignoring your hair as best you can, you grab your groceries and lock the truck before hurrying inside. You share an awkward elevator ride with an old man that tries to make small talk with you, talking about the weather and then about the cans of soup he can see poking out of your grocery bags. Then you're kicking your apartment door with one foot, calling, "Yo, Jake, open up, my hands are full."  
  
You can hear the TV pausing and then the door unlocks and opens just a crack. Through it, you can see Jake's head and tips of his wings just above him, and then it opens all the way. You enter and Jake closes the door behind you, then reaches for one of the grocery bags with a chipper, "Let me help you with that!"  
  
The two of you bring it all to the kitchen where you dump everything on the counter, then shrug out of your jacket, balling it up and throwing it towards the door. You miss terribly and glare at the fabric, then at Jake when you hear his muffled laughter.  
  
"So, do you need any help unpacking all this chow?" He asks, still trying not to laugh.  
  
"If you're up for it, be my guest," you say, and begin pulling things out.  
  
With him helping, it doesn't take very long. You make a mental note to have him help you put stuff away again in the future, because damn it, you're lazy, then freeze. You're making plans and taking notes as if Jake's going to keep living with you for a while - and you think he might? He's still looking for his cousin, and he can't exactly go wandering about the city, not when he's supposed to be dead.  
  
He notices that you've stopped moving and looks at you curiously as you try to think this through, then reaches out and taps you on the shoulder. "I say, Strider, are you quite all right?"

You blink, all thoughts of living situations gone. "Did you just call me 'Strider'?"

He tilts his head to the side and looks worried. "Is that not okay?"

"Nah, it's fine, _English_." You look at him over your shades and give him an exaggerated wink, and he snorts. You flash him a quick grin, then walk away and to the couch, where you end up collapsing face-first. You actually got sleep last night, hooray you, but you're still pretty damn tired. Maybe you'll fall asleep here. Actually, that sounds like a pretty great idea, Jake can have the floor while you snooze.

Jake follows you a few minutes later with what sounds like one of your orange sodas in tow. You can also hear the sound of feathers doing. Feathery things? They sound like they're moving, at any rate, and then your legs are being moved as Jake makes room for himself by your feet. You make grunting noises to protest this development and he laughs and ignores you, opting to instead to unpause the TV.

You fall asleep to the sound of car chases and heroic last stands, to the sound of rain, and to the feeling of a warm body near yours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you notice the carapacian cameos in there? PM the receptionist, AR the security guard, and WV the old man who enjoys talking about the groceries with strangers in the elevator? 
> 
> Chapter five is still in the works, no clue when that'll be ready. Hopefully soon, but I make no promises. On a related note, I'm starting to notice that I'm planning on including quite a few characters (I actually have a list of all of them, and what they do, and all that fun stuff). Guess we'll see where they all end up!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minor crisis plan includes the following:  
> \- eggs  
> \- the ability to take your mind off of the crisis  
> \- (the ability to take your mind off the crisis is only included for $19.99 extra)

When you wake up, it's to your stomach growling and very cold feet. Your shades are crooked and your hair is messed up, you're still wearing yesterday's clothes - was it yesterday? Even if it wasn't, you need a shower. You push yourself upright, then off the couch and yawn, rubbing at your head before walking into your room. Breakfast can wait. 

Once in your room, you grab fresh clothes, dump your shades, then head to the bathroom, opening the door straight into a very surprised Jake. 

"Wha- oh, shit, sorry," you say, and Jake just kinda stares at you like a deer in the headlights. His hair's dripping on the floor and he's - he's not wearing a shirt. His wings are extended and the bandages are mostly unwrapped, and from what you can see, it looks like you didn't manage to do much with the first aid. With his wing not all weirdly crunched up on itself, you can see that it's bent at an awkward angle. You'd wonder why, but it's almost definitely because you're a complete idiot. You broke the bone, why did you not set it? Oh, right, because you thought he'd be dead, and dead people don't give a shit about whether or not their bones are broken.

It's a long minute before either of you moves or even breaks eye contact, and then Jake breaks the silence first. "It's okay." His eyes flick around, embarrassed, before finally settling on the ceiling. He rubs at his neck and you resist the urge to cringe. 

You set your clothes down by your feet and take a few steps towards him. "Jake," you say, "your wing. It's - I broke it, didn't I." He nods slowly and you let out a long breath. "I - shit, dude." He's watching you now and you want to disappear. Sink into the carpet, never to return to this place of fuck-ups and guilty embarrassment.

"Does it hurt?" He shrugs a little and you ask, "It's been like this the whole time?" Now he looks away and nods, just as slow as before, and you pinch the bridge of your nose. You're an idiot. "That's not good." 

He manages a laugh at that. "That might be a bit of an understatement, Strider." You frown at him and he grins a little at you, then says, "I'd imagine that it needs a bit more work than something you can just whip out from that kit of yours." He seems… less concerned about a broken limb that you'd have thought and more concerned by the fact that you're getting worked up about it. That's not actually comforting.

"Probably not," you say, and turn a little so that you can lean against the counter, thinking. "I know a guy," you say slowly. "Well, I know of him. Friend of a friend of my brother's. He's a vet. Works with all sorts of animals, probably knows how to patch up a wing - or at least, I'd assume he'd know who to go to, if he doesn't." 

Jake's quiet, then says, "You trust him?" 

"I trust my brother to not have terrible friends. At the very least, he's a professional." 

He absorbs the information, then lets out a sigh. "Right. Well, why not? Ring him up, if you'd be so kind." 

You say something along the lines of 'yeah, okay, sure' and beat a hasty retreat, kicking your clothes out of the bathroom with one foot and closing the door behind you. You search your desk for a few minutes, looking for your phone, before realizing it's in your pocket. You must have fallen asleep with it there - you hope it still has battery enough for texting.

With phone in hand, you walk out into the living room and send Dave a quick text, asking him if he still knows that vet. A few minutes pass and then you get a response - yeah, he does, what do you want him for, et cetera. You hesitate before sending another message - should you tell Dave about Jake? 

Not worth the risk, you decide, and just tell Dave to send vet-friend to your apartment. Dave responds with an affirmative (and a terrible joke that you ignore) and you settle down on the couch to wait. 

Jake's still in the bathroom when a hesitant knock on the door startles you out of your thoughts. You glance at the clock - it's been half an hour, you think - and walk over to the door, opening it slightly to see who's on the other end. 

"Is this, uh." A tall boy, made taller by his mohawk, glances down at his phone before looking back up at you. "Dirk Strider?"

"Yeah, that's me," you say, relieved, and you open the door wider so he can walk through. 

"Oh, good," he says, "I was worried, that I might have got the address wrong. I'm Tavros." You shake his hand and he enters, walking just as hesitantly as he knocked and with a noticeable limp. He carries a large bag in one hand and sets it down by your couch before glancing around, evidently looking for an animal. When he doesn't find one, he turns to you and asks, "So, uh, who am I looking at? A cat, dog, something else…?"

You bite your lip, thinking about how exactly you should say this. "It's - complicated. Look, Tavros? Does doctor-patient confidentiality apply to veterinarians?"

"I - I guess it, could? I don't know why you would need it, unless you have a really, expensive pet or something," he says, and you shake your head. 

"Not quite," you say. "Look, this might be a bit freaky, but could you trust me on this?" He nods, slowly, and you let out a breath. "Right. Well, follow me, he's in the bathroom."

Tavros seems nervous as you approach the bathroom, as if second guessing himself, and you find yourself wondering if this is a smart idea. Bringing someone else into this, maybe not, but it's definitely not smart to let Jake's wing continue being broken and let it heal up badly.

You knock on the door and open it a little, calling, "Hey, Jake, open up. I've got Tavros - the vet? - with me."

Jake opens the door fully and peers over your shoulder and towards Tavros, who's gone from looking like he's about to bolt to mild surprise. Huh. That's not what you were expecting - shock, maybe, or confusion, or fear. 

"Tavros, is it?" Jake says, offering a small smile, and he shakes Tavros's hand. "I'm Jake. The, er, patient, I suppose."

Tavros nods and opens his mouth to say something, then pauses. He seems to be thinking about what to say, and eventually says, "Patient would be, the right term, I think." He pauses again. "Your wings, they're -" he struggles to find the words. "My dad and brother, they have wings, like yours. Or, not like yours, theirs are more insectoid. Yours are very, bird-like. Um, that's a good thing, I think I know what to do, with bird wings. I'm a little, lost with the insect ones."

Jake's staring wide-eyed at Tavros and you have a feeling you're wearing the same expression. "You say you know other people with wings?" Jake says slowly, and Tavros nods. "What - how?"

"It's, um, complicated," Tavros responds, looking awkward. "I can, tell you about it later, if you really want to know, but it would probably be best if I looked at your wing now." 

"Oh, right," Jake says, "Well, I'll let you get to it." As Tavros disappears into the other room to grab his bag, Jake grabs your arm and whispers, "Strider, did you know about that?"

"Not a clue," you say, and Tavros reappears. "I'll leave you guys alone, this bathroom would probably be a little crowded with all three of us in here." Jake nods and lets go of you as Tavros closes the door, leaving you by yourself in your room. 

You stand still for a few minutes, before whispering, "Holy fuck," and hurriedly exiting to the kitchen. You can't actually believe what's going on. So you decide to go into minor crisis mode: you're going to make eggs and not think about what's going on. 

As you scramble your eggs, Tavros appears in the doorway and clears his throat to get your attention. "So, his bone is, definitely broken," he says, "and I'm not really sure, why he didn't say anything sooner. He must have been in a lot of pain." You nod slowly and he continues, saying, "It's not bad enough yet that I need to re-break it, but I do need to have something to keep it in place, while it heals." 

"What kind of thing are you talking about?" You ask, glancing up at him before going back to your eggs. 

"On an actual, um, bird, it's usually something like cardboard," he says slowly. "But Jake is, quite a lot bigger than a bird, so I'd think that wouldn't work. Maybe… hm."

"How big are you talking?" He considers this for a moment, then holds his hands apart a few feet. "Well, I've probably got something that size lying around." You stir your eggs while thinking about the various parts you have - you know you've got a couple metal sheets, various cables and mechanical bits in boxes, some pipes that - well, that might work. "Does it matter particularly what it's made of? Because I've got some PVC pipe lying around that you can use, if you want it." 

Tavros nods slowly, then gains speed. "That - I think it would work. I know a friend of mine used PVC pipe for a, a horse that broke it's leg. Though when he did it, the pipe went around the horse's leg. That's a little difficult, to do with wings, but it couldn't hurt. To try, I mean. Not putting around his wing, that could be bad, but -"

"Yeah, that wouldn't work," you interrupt. "Watch my eggs for a sec, will you? I'll go grab 'em." You hand Tavros your wooden stirring spoon and disappear into your room, rooting around in pile next to your desk for the pipes. Assuming you left them in the pile and didn't hide them away somewhere. You're not entirely sure why you have them, to be honest; maybe you needed them for a past project? But you push thoughts of where they could have come from out of your mind as you find the pipes. They're probably long enough for Jake's wings, you decide, and if not you can always just run to the store. 

You return to the kitchen to have Tavros look at the pipes and he promptly asks if you can cut them. So you return to your room and move some equipment around, clearing off a table where you can set up a saw. Jake pokes his head out when you drop a piece of the metal you were moving on your foot and start cursing; he grins as you flip him off and hop away from the offending object. 

After that, Tavros comes in and watches you saw the pipe in half, lengthwise, creating a sort of half-moon shape. Tavros says it should fit over the bones in Jake's wing to hold them in place while they heal, but he's not sure, um, etc. He goes to check and make sure your eggs aren't burning as you smooth out the edges of the pipe, then disappears into the bathroom with pipe in hand. You clean up a bit, then head back to the kitchen to find that Tavros put the pan in the sink and that your eggs are on a plate. How kind of him. 

When Tavros reappears, Jake in tow, you're halfway through your eggs (which have gone cold, damn it) and channel surfing. You glance up at them as Jake sits down next to you, wing splinted and spread out to his left. He looks like he's trying not to be miserable and you wince. You're no stranger to having broken bones, but you've always had them taken care of quickly. And Jake - ah, jeez. You're a giant, oblivious idiot. Hopefully you can make it up to him, somehow. 

Jake glances over at you and then at Tavros, who's fussing with his bag. He leans over to you, whispering, "Should I… should I ask him, do you think, about his family?"

Your eyes move to watch Tavros and you shrug. "Up to you, dude."

As he moves back over towards you two, Jake clears his throat, startling Tavros. That seems to be a recurring thing with him, being nervous. Jake ignores his nervousness, though, and instead plows on. "Say, Tavros, you mentioned earlier that your family is, well, winged. Like me. And I was wondering - how?"

Tavros stares at Jake, then slowly nods and pulls a chair towards the couch before sitting in it. "It's, kinda a long story," he says, hesitantly. "Well. It's - well, how'd you get your wings?"

It's Jake's turn to hesitate, and he glances between you and Tavros before settling his gaze on the floor and clasping his hands together. "Now that I look back on it, it's a little embarrassing. A friend of mine works for a company that's starting to make some serious breakthroughs in the sciences and was telling me about one of their latest programs. She mentioned that she was having trouble finding volunteers for it, since it was untested and more than a little dangerous, and - well, the recklessness of youth!"

"Bro," you interrupt, "you're like, twenty. 'The recklessness of youth' is alive and well and its name is Jake English."

He lifts his gaze and glares at you, then rolls his eyes and says, "Yes, well, I was quite a lot younger! I was - sixteen? Fifteen? Maybe, my memory's a little fuzzy."

You raise an eyebrow. "You signed up for a life-altering scientific experiment when you were a teenager."

"Possibly." He ignores your snort of disbelief and instead continues on with his story. "As I was saying, I volunteered right away. It sounded like a great adventure, an origin story almost, and I decided to go for it. She tried to talk me out of it, and adamantly refused for a good month or so; eventually, though, I managed to convince her to let me go through with it.

"She took me to the facility she worked in, introduced me to the scientists, and I was asked a lot of questions. The next bit is somewhat blurry; it had to have been months. I underwent the experiment, the scientists tried to teach me how to fly, which didn't work very well at first. And then I was sent home." He shrugs. "Nothing special about it."

Tavros nods slowly, absorbing the information, and his fingers twitch in his lap. "Yeah. That sounds - that sounds about right, I think. But, not quite the same." He pauses, seeming to collect his thoughts, and then says, softly, "My brother - Rufioh, that's his name - he didn’t volunteer, for people to make him into something, not human. He was taken, off the streets, and my dad got really worried. He went looking for my brother and instead he, got captured too."

Jake's eyes are wide and he watches Tavros with an expression that you can't quite place. "They eventually got out," Tavros says, not looking up at you two, "though they never told me, whether they were released or escaped. They made their way home and I, I freaked out. The scientists never came looking for them, though, which is, probably a good thing."

It's quiet save for the hum of the TV and the rain outside. At least, until Jake practically explodes, his good wing flapping about and threatening to knock something over. 

"Tavros, I, I'm so sorry about your brother, and your father, I just - I cannot believe what I am hearing! This is - Jane's the nicest girl I've ever met, I can't imagine that she'd ever willingly work for a company that takes people and - and mutates them without their permission! But I don't doubt that it happened, not one bit. I'm just," he paces restlessly and then stops in front of Tavros.

"I'm so sorry," he says, as if it's his fault that this happened, and Tavros just sits there and nods and tells him that it's okay, that they're fine, now. 

You watch as Jake and Tavros stare at each other for a few minutes, your own thoughts reeling. This - when you first joined HQ, you and Dave had gone through some pretty rigorous tests, part of which had involved genetic testing. You'd gone on with it, and later on asked why. When they explained the whole 'we hate mutants' thing (Rose actually told you they have a two hour speech dedicated to it and occasionally they call a company meeting and bust the whole thing out - she said she has the file somewhere, if you'd like to see it) you had been surprised, but you hadn't though much of it. You figured that the mutants were being churned out somewhere and when you took the first mission that involved killing one, you'd thought that they were made to fight and that they weren't really people. 

But if they're made, then that puts a whole new spin on things. You wonder if HQ knows any of this - well, they probably do. But if they're being created by a company, why kill the mutants and not the company that makes them? For that matter, why bring the mutants into it at all? This is getting complicated. 

"Tavros," you say, "what do you mean when you say they were taken?"

He blinks. "I'm not sure, what you're asking. Rufioh was just… taken. He was walking home from a bar and, some people in a van grabbed him. He didn't come home, so Dad went looking for him. He didn't come home right away, and I didn't see either of them for, a long time." 

"Are there any others that were taken that you know of?"

Tavros hesitates, then sighs and nods. "Yeah. A few."

Jake glances between you and Tavros, then seems to come to a decision. "Your family and the others - I'd like to talk to them, if you wouldn't mind."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a bit longer than planned to come out, due to an audition I had completely forgotten about and a couple projects for school that I needed to work on. Sorry about that, hopefully the next one won't take so long to get done and posted.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pizza does not, under any circumstance, belong so far away from hungry people.
> 
> (in other news, now with color)

It's a few days before you hear from Tavros - Tavros, who panicked and stuttered and then grabbed his bag and ran out your front door without so much as a 'goodbye'. Honestly? You weren't expecting to hear from him again. You were half expecting Dave to message you, demanding an explanation about why or how you managed to scare the hell out of his friend. Maybe even Tavros's mutant family to kick down your door. 

So when your phone rings and you pick it up, you're surprised when you hear Tavros on the other line. Usually you get wrong numbers and HQ trying to get you to do more jobs, not vets. 

"Strider. Need something?"

"Um, Dirk, yes. I - Jake said he, wanted to meet the others? I - Does he still want to?"

"Meet the - oh, right. Hold up a sec, I'll go ask him." You stick your head out into the living room where Jake's sprawled out on his stomach, watching old I Love Lucy reruns. "Jake, earth to Jake," you call out, and he fumbles around on the couch looking for the remote before successfully pausing the TV. With that done, he glances over at you and - jeez. After Tavros fixed up his wing, he's been having trouble sleeping. Apparently the great Jake English can only properly sleep in this _one specific way_ and anything else just won't cut it. He's been trying to nap while watching various things, but the circles under his eyes are starting to show up darker than his skin.

"Tavros is on the phone," you say, and Jake perks right up at that. "He wants to know if you're down to meet the others."

"Er. Others? Who - oh, the other mutants, is that right?" He frowns, then nods and rests his head on his arms. "I think so." 

You raise an eyebrow. "You gonna fall asleep in the middle of it?" You mime walking forwards and shaking someone's hand, then dropping your head and snoring. You look up and Jake's grinning and shaking his head, so you shrug. "Well, all right. I'll let Tavros know." 

You hear the TV click back on as you go back to your room and, raising your phone back to your ear, say, "Right, Tavros, you there? Jake's still cool with meeting the others." 

"Oh, okay, that's good then," Tavros responds, and then you can hear muffled whispering coming from his end. You catch a couple different voices before Tavros finally speaks to you again, saying, "Okay, so, if you're still able to, I can tell you when the next, um, meeting is? It might not be for, a little while." 

"Sounds good, bro. Let me know once you've got the date." 

You exchange goodbyes and then drop your phone on your bed before moving to sit at your computer. You shake the mouse a little and the screen lights up, revealing a flashing Pesterchum icon on your taskbar and several unfinished reports. You aren't trying to procrastinate. There's just more important things to do. And answering your chum is one of them. 

tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

TG: diiiiiiiirkkkkkk  
TG: im so booooooored  
TG: work is so booooriiinnnnnnnngggggggggggg  
TG: r u there?  
TG: dirkdirkdirkdirkdkikd  
TT: I'm here.  
TT: Or, more accurately, 'dkikd' is here.  
TG: o good  
TG: wassup dkikd  
TT: Nothing spectacular.  
TG: r u doin work right now?  
TG: cuz if so u should come over here nd we can have like  
TG: a giant work is boring patry  
TG: party**  
TG: tho a patry could be pretty fun too, ngl  
TT: A party at the place where we work, while you're supposed to be working.  
TG: yeah  
TG: what bout it  
TT: Point taken.  
TT: In that case, a party sounds like a terrific idea.  
TT: I don't think I can make it, though.  
TT: My schedule is pretty full. I've got 'doing absolutely nothing productive and maybe looking for a new phone' until 3, and then I'll probably end up watching I Love Lucy with Jake until dinner, which will probably be another pizza.  
TT: Maybe two. The dude can eat.  
TG: ooooo  
TG: hey  
TG: hey dirk  
TG: u kno what we should do instead  
TG: instead of havin the party at work  
TG: party can be aaaattttt ur place  
TG: nd i can take a looksie at this jakey guy ;)  
TT: Roxy.  
TG: ;) ;) ;)  
TT: My poor eyes can't take so many winky faces.  
TG: *:) :) :)  
TT: Ah, much better. I can rest easy now.  
TG: lol rad  
TG: BUT  
TG: you still havnen't answered the question  
TT: You really want to meet him, huh.  
TG: duhhh  
TG: so!  
TG: u gonna let ur bff get her look on?  
TT: .....Well. I can ask Jake if he's cool with you coming over.  
TG: woohoo!  
TT: I'll be right back.  
TG: :)

You slowly stand up and walk back to the door, leaning against the frame and biting your lip before calling, "Hey, Jake." As he turns to look at you, you say, "So. My friend, Roxy, wants to know if it'd be cool for her to come over today? So, um. Is that cool with you?"

He blinks and then frowns. "I - well, yes. Should I leave while she's here? I wouldn't want to get in the way of you two and-"

You shake your head and interrupt him. "No, well, see, part of the reason she wants to come over is to meet you." 

As you finish speaking, it's silent and Jake's staring at you in the most awkward way you've ever been stared at. You start rubbing at your arms self-consciously, trying to avoid his gaze. 

"Meet… me?"

"Yeah. While I was telling HQ you were dead, I dropped by to talk to her and I. May have mentioned it." Jake looks confused but you press on, saying, "She's cool, she won't tell anyone, trust me."

Jake looks nervous, but nods slowly. "Well, all right. I trust you." You nearly laugh at that, but instead nod and say something resembling 'cool, okay, bye' and beat a hasty retreat. You fall into your chair with a loud noise and hold your head in your hands for a second before replying to Roxy.

TT: I'm back.  
TG: oooooo  
TG: and the verdict is???  
TT: He says it's cool.  
TG: ! sweet  
TT: Are you gonna swing by after work?  
TG: hmmm yep  
TT: Right, okay. I'll have the pizzas here by then.  
TT: I'm gonna assume you still want ham and pineapple.  
TG: u would assume correctly, mister stridre  
TG: strider*  
TT: Have I ever failed to?  
TG: lol  
TG: o SHIT gtg roses comin this way  
TG: ill cya l8r dirky!!  
TT: See ya, Roxy.

tipsyGnostalgic [TG] ceased pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

Well. That was interesting. You lean back in your chair and rub at your eyes, then get up to set a reminder on your phone. One thing it can do well is reminders. You return to your desk and close the chat window, bringing you back to your unfinished reports - which you also close, because there's nothing like crunching a deadline to actually get you to do your work.

You waste a few hours browsing the internet for a new phone and then for some parts you'll be needing if you want to spruce Squarewave up - though you have been wanting to try out something new. Maybe it's time to make Squarewave 2.0: The Next Big Thing. Can't hurt to try, at least, so you make your purchases. The website tells you that it'll be about a week to get everything to you. 

You're debating whether or not to get some work done before Roxy arrives when your phone makes a terrible beeping noise, letting you know that you should probably order food now. Looks like the answer to that particular question is a resounding 'no'. You grab your phone and turn off the noise, then head towards the kitchen.

Jake hasn't moved since you last saw him, but he has changed the channel. No more 50's sitcoms, it seems. Instead, it's time for cartoons. He glances up at you as you enter but loses interest and turns back to the show, leaving you to ring up the pizza place. One pepperoni, one ham-and-pineapple, to be delivered in about half an hour. 

You place the order and then walk over to the couch, shooing Jake out of the middle so that you can sit down. He grumbles but moves and as you sit, you ask, "What happened to Lucy?" 

"Hm? Oh, nothing. Lucy's a right fine gal, Strider, but I felt like watching something else."

"So you picked… whatever this is." 

Jake turns and frowns at you, wagging a finger. "Now, see here, there is nothing wrong with this show!"

"Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Well, no. But that's the beauty of it! I don't need to! It's just as good, with or without context." 

You level your gaze at him but he simply turns away and tunes you out, leaving you to make yourself comfortable in your seat. The two of you remain in companionable silence for a while until the doorbell rings, startling you out of the cartoon (which isn't half bad, in all actuality). Jake glances up at the door, then at you, and you groan, making a big show of getting up from your very comfy position on the couch.

"No, don't bother getting up, Jake, let me go get the door. It's fine, Jake, thank you, Jake," you grumble as you walk over to the door. You can hear his protests behind you but you ignore him in favor of opening the door. You barely get to see that it's Roxy, not the pizza delivery guy, before she tackles you and wraps you up in a big hug, making you sputter and your arms flail about in a totally uncool manner. 

"Rox-!" you manage to get out, but she's excitedly squeezing you and chattering. 

"Dirk! I feel like I haven't seen you in for- _ever_! And I haven't been to casa de Strider the older in so much longer!" She pulls back enough to get a good look at your face, then flashes you a grin and lets go, allowing you to breathe again. 

"Hey, Roxy. Come in, why don't you." Her grin widens and then she turns to where Jake sits, staring at you two. He seems… surprised. To say the least. 

Roxy bounds over to him, her pink jacket flapping, and crashes ungracefully on the couch next to him. "Let me guess. You're Jake!"

"You guess correctly, miss, um." Jake looks between you and Roxy a few times, then ventures, "Strider?"

Roxy's laughter is light and tinkly, but incredibly loud. "Not hardly! Dirky's just my bff-five-ever, has been since we were little tots. No familial relationship here - I'm a Lalonde, not a Strider." She thrusts her hand towards Jake and he takes it, shaking it a couple times before glancing over at you sideways and mouthing, "dirky?" 

You shake your head and grumble, "Shut up." Jake's laughter - deeper than your own - joins Roxy's and you're glad when the doorbell rings again, signaling the arrival of your meal. You grab your wallet and head to the door, paying for your pizzas, and then dump them on the kitchen counter. 

Roxy appears at your elbow, grabbing a piece of pizza before you're able to pull out plates. You frown at her and she shrugs, pointing at her pizza and swallowing before saying, "Girl's gotta eat, Dirk." 

You roll your eyes and she sticks out her tongue in retaliation before leaving, which doesn't make sense, she couldn't have seen - you're not wearing your shades, are you. You set the plates down on the counter and lift one hand to your face and instead of hard plastic and glass in front of your eyes, you nearly poke yourself in the eye in the process of confirming that she could see your eyes. 

You grumble some more as you tear off slices of the pizza for yourself, then lift your voice, calling, "Jake, what kind do you want?"

"Hm. One of each, please and thank you." 

With that, you head back over to the couch only to find that Roxy has taken up most of the space not occupied by Jake, who has since sat up. After passing Jake his pizza, you step over Roxy's outstretched feet (she always puts them on your coffee table, always) and perch on the arm of the couch next to her. 

The smell of pizza is starting to make your stomach grumble, so you dig in as Roxy and Jake chatter. Roxy's always had a gift for people. She puts them at ease, she's casual, and she's both interesting and interested. If she wasn't such a computer whiz - pardon you, "haxxor bitch" - you know she'd be the go-to gal sent to charm the socks off of people. And then probably steal their valuables. She does that bit already, though. 

"So you two work together?" Jake's asking as you tune back in.

"Sorta! Dirk gets to do all the fun stuff. I'm mostly stuck indoors with computers. I mean, not that I mind, because I can just do whatever all day, but y'know, it's so boooooring."

"You go out sometimes," you say. "Couple weeks ago, remember? There was a huge story about it on the news and you made me watch it. The whole hour."

She elbows you and laughs. "Shut up, it was awesome."

Jake's watching you two with a mystified look. As he finishes his first slice, he asks, "What did you do to get on the news?"

Roxy grins and leans in close to Jake, glancing around suspiciously and lowering her voice. "Raided a pirate base and made off with all their loot. Then turned the pirates over to the police and had a very nice afternoon at a spa."

You snort, which is a pretty bad idea considering the fact that you're in the middle of eating. Jake's no longer mystified. Just confused, you think. And Roxy's trying hard to keep a giggle fit under control as Jake slowly asks, "…Did you really?"

She can't keep it under control for very long. "Ahahaha, nope! Close though. Weren't pirates, just a bunch of fancy-pants assholes. Everything else it true, though." She goes to take another bite of pizza only to find that it has disappeared and stares at her hands for a second before bouncing up and declaring, "Pizza does not, under any circumstance, belong so far away from hungry people."

She leaves to grab the boxes and move them to a more suitable location, which is to say, to her lap so she can take what she wants. You watch her and frown before Jake clears his throat to get your attention.

"So… you two are good friends, I take it."

You nod. "The best."

Jake smiles slightly. "I see." He looks like he's about to say something, but is interrupted by Roxy's return, laden with one of the pizza boxes. You glance over and it looks like she's shoved all the remaining pizza into one big, sticky, cheesy mess. 

You reach for more and help yourself to several more slices as the three of you continue to chat before the conversation comes to slow. Roxy's the one who breaks it. "So," she says, setting what's left of her pizza down and turning to face Jake. "What're you doin' in this place, anyways?"

"Er…" he glances between you and Roxy, then rubs at the back of his neck and shrugs. "My cousin's gone missing. Managed to find some things that led me here, and… Well. Now I'm here."

"Oh!" Roxy claps her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. "I'm so sorry, Jake!" He shrugs again, and she glances between you and him before gingerly removing her hand and placing it on his knee. 

The mood of the room has, understandably gone downhill, and it seems to be unsettling to both you and Jake. Jake's the one who decides to take action first, smiling slightly at Roxy and saying, "It's… Thank you. But, I do believe that this is very sobering talk and this is supposed to be a lighthearted get-together!" He stands upwards and cracks his knuckles, turning to you and asking, "Strider, you wouldn't happen to have any games to go with that console over there, would you?"

You raise an eyebrow. "Is your opinion of me really that low? Bro, I've got games comin' out of my ass, that's how many games I have."

Roxy snorts as you stand and walk over, opening the cabinet under your TV. "Take a look. Games galore."

Jake moves towards you and kneels, surveying your collection. You've got puzzle games, old games, multiplayer games, ironic games - you have a lot of games. Some you've gotten the day they released, others you've gotten for cheap at thrift stores, and there's a couple in there that you stole from Dave. 

After a few minutes, Jake reaches into the cabinet and pulls out Halo: Reach, grinning at it and pointing triumphantly to the box. "I remember playing this game," he says, "I used to play with my grandmother, back when I was just a little tyke." He shifts slightly so that he can turn on the console, then asks, "Where might you keep the controllers?"

You reach over him and pick up three controllers, tossing one to Roxy as Jake gets things set up. He does pretty well, but manages to up the volume in the process, making all three of you flinch as everything comes online. Once your ears have been saved, the two of you return to the couch and get caught up in the most aggressive round of the multiplayer campaign you've ever played. 

Time passes and the three of you manage to get nearly halfway through, due to Jake being absolutely horrendous at staying alive. He claims that fall damage should not be a thing, dammit, he has flipping _wings_ and that is outrageous, which makes Roxy crack up and nearly knock your controller out of your hands each time Jake falls off of something. 

This is probably the best time you've had in a while, you think. As you weave your way between buildings, the three of you joke around like old friends, munching on cold pizza and shooting things together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this chapter took so long! Between a couple concerts, rehearsals, and a very large history project, I haven't had a lot of time to write. What time I did have to write I've spent. Well. Playing video games. Which is not the most productive thing in the world. 
> 
> However, while I don't think any future chapters will take this much time, I'm honestly not sure. So: hopefully, next one will be a lot sooner.
> 
> As for this chapter: it's my headcanon that Jake is terrible at shooters. He finds it so different dealing with a controller instead of an actual gun and it screws him up. Dirk and Roxy don't notice, because Roxy is great at shooters and Jake's too busy dying every few minutes for them to really pay attention to his shooting ability.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dirk finally does something about all the dirty laundry on his floor. Seriously, dude, that's gross. Why didn't you do this sooner?

Roxy, in all her infinite wisdom, decided that going home at one in the morning was a terrible idea. Which is why she is currently sprawled out on your bed, snoring into your pillow. 

You would have shared the bed - Roxy said she'd be a bad friend if she made you sleep on the floor while she got your bed - but you know from past experience that Roxy has a habit of kicking in her sleep. You were on the receiving end of many a bruise before you figured out that sleeping near Roxy was a bad idea. Luckily enough, your floor is covered in both dirty and clean laundry, so you picked a pile and snoozed for a few hours before the sounds of falling furniture woke you up. 

You jolt awake as the furniture crashes down, slowly making your way to your bedroom door and opening it to peer out into the not-quite-blackness of early morning. 

"Jake?" you say, quietly, just in case he's actually asleep and not knocking your stuff over. 

"Erm. Yes," is the reply, so you take a few steps towards the kitchen and fumble for the lights. Once they're on, you turn to find Jake lying flat on his stomach, a fallen chair in front of him. "I seem to have… well. I'm sure you can see what's happened."

You snort, then bend a little and offer him a hand up. He takes it and stands, saying, "I'm sorry I was knocking things over and woke you up. I didn't see it until we were both down for the count!" He laughs a little, then glances over your shoulder and asks, "I didn't wake up Roxy, did I?"

"Nah," you say, shaking your head. "Once she's out, nothing can wake her until she's good and ready."

"Ah, well, that's good, then." 

You nod, then reach down and grab the chair, pulling it upright and sliding it back under your counter. Something about Jake reeks of a terrible sitcom, and as you walk past Jake to grab a drink of water, you half expect him to crack a joke and a prerecorded laugh track to play. As you pull a glass from your cabinet, you ask, "What were you doing up, anyways?"

"I was trying to get to the bathroom, but I." He pauses. "I may have misjudged the whereabouts of your door." You raise an eyebrow as you drink and he shrugs. After a few minutes pass, he speaks again. "I was going to ask last night - Strider, are you and Roxy… um… well, are you two a couple?"

Cue spit take. You set your glass down and in between coughs, you manage to get out, "I - what? No." 

Jake's eyes are wide with surprise and he hurries over to you. He raises an arm as if to reach out to you but hesitates and ends up awkwardly reaching in your direction before he slowly lowers his arm, asking, "Are you all right?" 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just - what gave you _that_ idea?"

He looks awkwardly up at the ceiling, wings shifting so that the feathers rub against each other. Eventually he says, rather primly, "You two seem very close and I was curious."

You laugh. "Yeah, no, we aren't dating. Roxy's great, don't get me wrong, but it would probably turn out terribly if we tried. I don't really want to deal with the mess that would become."

Jake nods, then looks curiously at you. "Why would it turn out terribly? Um. Well, if you don’t mind saying."

You shrug. "I'm not particularly interested in girls."

He seems perplexed for a few moments - did he pick up on what you were trying to say? Do you need to be more obvious? - but then it dawns on him and the corners of his mouth twitch. "That would definitely put a damper on things," he says, laughing, and you grin at him. 

After a few minutes pass, you turn to set your glass in the sink and then glance at the clock. It's currently… you can't read clocks to save your life. It's probably 6:30, or at least close to that. You think. At any rate, it's been a while since you three fell asleep, and that means Roxy will probably wake up sooner rather than later. Six hours - that's how long she sleeps on any given day. Sometimes you wonder if her lack of sleep ever catches up to her, but it's Roxy. You don't think Roxy'd let anything stop her, sleep included.

With that in mind, you start to make coffee. As you fill the pot with water, you ask, "You good with coffee?"

Jake, who has since moved to sit on the chair he knocked over earlier, watches you in an absentminded way until your voice startles him. "I - oh. Sorry, I wasn't listening." You repeat the question, and he says, "Ah, yes, mostly."

You glance back at him. "Mostly?"

"I prefer tea." 

You place the pot back into the coffee maker and then go to grab the actual coffee. As you open the cabinet it's stored in, you pull out a small plastic box filled with mismatched teabags people have left at your apartment over the years. Sometimes you receive them as gifts and then no one fesses up to sending them to you. You stare at the box for a moment before a thought crosses your mind, and - hey. That could be fun. "Here, catch," you say, grinning, before tossing it at Jake and then grabbing your coffee. 

As Jake pokes around inside, you set the coffee to brew half a pot, which should be enough, if past experience is anything to by. As the coffee maker starts to make noise, you turn back to Jake and he pushes both the box and a single bag towards you. You nod and begin to put things away, pushing the box back into the cabinet and then glancing at the bag - green, huh? - and putting it in a cup, which you then pass to Jake. 

He's still absentmindedly staring at nothing, so he says, "Oh, thank you," and attempts to take a sip of tea. Instead, he gets a mouthful of teabag and air. He sputters and stares down at the cup, then at you, and you start to laugh. 

He glares at you in an accusing way and you lift up your hands, trying not to laugh too hard as you say, "Dude, I'm from Texas. Sweet tea or no tea, that's the rule, and there's no sweet tea to be found in this kitchen." Jake huffs and crosses his arms, but a hint of a smile on his face assures you that he probably isn't too terribly offended. 

You busy yourself with grabbing some cups for you and Roxy and then retrieving Jake's not-really-tea. You place those by the coffee maker before the sound of shuffling feet makes you glance up. 

"Right on time," you say, and Roxy blinks at you, looking not quite awake yet, as she shuffles and takes a seat next to Jake. "Coffee's gonna be ready in just a bit." She nods slowly and then lays her head down on the counter. 

Jake takes this moment to stand up, saying, "I'll be right back," as he disappears into your room, probably to use the bathroom. As he returns, you're pouring coffee, pushing a mostly full cup towards Roxy alongside some milk and sugar. You take a sip of your own, devoid of sweet things, and gesture to where Roxy is now pouring a hefty amount of sugar into her coffee. 

"Do you want any?" you ask, and he shakes his head. You pass him his mug - now without the teabag - and he blows on it before gingerly taking a sip, trying not to burn his tongue. 

It's silent in your kitchen, save for the light sound of rain outside - you're starting to get worried that you'll never see the sun again, honestly - and the sounds of the three of you drinking your coffee. 

Roxy fully wakes up a few minutes later and begins chatting with Jake as you pour yourself another cup of coffee. You take a few careful sips, then leave the kitchen and enter your bedroom, setting your cup on your desk as you rummage for some clean clothes - you do not want to keep sitting around in the clothes you fell asleep in. You can still hear the faint sounds of Jake and Roxy's voices coming from the other room, and as you finish finding fresh clothes, Roxy pokes her head in through your doorway. 

"Heeeeey Dirk."

"Sup," you respond, placing your clean clothing on your bed and reaching down to move some of your piles together. You think you'll probably make a laundry run today. 

"So, I'm gonna leave in just a few," she says. "Promised Rose I'd meet up with her after I check in at HQ, and you know how Rose hates to be kept waiting." She walks over to where you're struggling to pick up a particularly large pile and as you set it down, she wraps you in a hug. You hesitate for a moment, but then you hug her back as she says, "I had fun talkin' to you guys last night. Best night I've had in a while, honestly." She leans back to look at your face and grins, then says, "And before I forget, you totes have my blessing."

You groan and frown at her, but she just laughs and pokes you in the cheek. "Oh, don't give me that!" She exclaims, so you do it again, louder, and she shakes her head, letting go of you and calling, "Well, I'll see you later!" over her shoulder as she goes back into the other room and lets the front door slam behind her.

After a few minutes, you've managed to push all your dirty laundry into one big pile. It takes you a while, but you then manage to find a basket in your closet (which has never actually held your clothes). You empty it of some wires and various tools, placing them on a shelf with the rest of your equipment, and then place the laundry in there. 

Jake glances up from where he's still sitting at your island, sipping his coffee, as you drag your basket out into the living room. "Do you need any help with that?"

"Nah." You get to the door and drop your basket on the floor, narrowly missing your toes, then say, "This shouldn't take too long, about an hour, give or take, and then I'll be back. If you need me, the washing machines are on the first floor, down the hallway and to the left."

He nods, then frowns, and glances down at his clothing - clothing that he hasn't really changed since he got here. He borrowed a pair of sweatpants from you a few days ago, and then a spare shirt after Tavros left (you are so glad that you never got rid of the ridiculously huge shirts that Roxy gave you as a gag gift a couple years ago, because they're honestly the only ones that'll fit him). "You - would you mind terribly if I added these clothes to the load?" 

You shake your head. "I'll grab you something to change into." You leave the basket on the floor and disappear into your room, appearing a few minutes later with clean clothing in hand. "Let me know if any of that's too small for you." 

"Sure thing," he says, and then he's gone. You lean against the counter as you wait for him, but it's not long before he reappears and hands you the clothes he was wearing. The new ones fit, thankfully enough, and they look far better on him than they ever have on you, and. Well. That's not what you meant to think about.

Instead of continuing that line of thought, you walk back to your basket and drop the clothing inside of it before opening the door that Roxy (conveniently) didn't lock. With a backwards glance, you grab your keys and say, "Lock the door behind me, will you?" 

You head down to the stairs and then into the laundry room, dumping your clothes in the nearest empty machine and pressing buttons until it begins to fill with water. As the machine does its thing, you settle back against the wall and reach into your pocket for your phone - nope. Scratch that, you reach into your pocket only to find that your phone is not there. It's probably still in your room. 

Instead of wasting time on your phone, you waste time counting ceiling tiles until the washing machine stops spinning and you're able to transfer the wet clothing into a dryer. Fifteen minutes later sees you unlocking your door and entering with a load of warm laundry. 

You enter the apartment and drop the basket by the kitchen island, then go back to the door and close it, making sure to lock it, unlike a certain friend of yours. Jake is standing by the stove, looking in a drawer for something. A pot, if the can of soup by his head is anything to go by. 

"Hey," you call, and Jake knocks his head against the side of the stove, then looks up at you as his can of soup falls to the floor. 

"Oh, drat. Hello, Strider," he says, frowning at the can of soup on the floor. "I didn’t hear you return. Ah, I hope you don't mind that I'm -"

"Bro," you interrupt, "I told you when you got here, you're free to pretty much everything in the kitchen. Soup included."

He nods and bends down, picking up the can and looking it over. Other than a slight dent on one side, it seems fine, so he shrugs slightly and places it back on the counter and well away from the edge. As you pick your laundry basket back up and enter your bedroom, you can hear Jake whistling some tune as he gets the soup can opened. 

You debate between folding your laundry and just leaving it in the basket. Laziness wins out and instead of folding, you search for Jake's clothes, which you then dump on the couch. Jake glances up at you as he stirs the soup and you walk over, then says, "Oh, thank you."

He sets the spoon down, then looks around at the cabinets before turning to you. "Where -"

"That one."

"Ah, thanks." He turns the stove off and then reaches over to open the cabinet you indicated, removing a bowl and then looking back at you again. "Do you want some?"

You consider this for a second, then say, "Sure." He nods, grabs another bowl, and then begins to dish up lunch as you scrounge up a couple of spoons. You hand one to him in exchange for your soup, which you think is chicken noodle. There's definitely some chicken and definitely some noodles in here, at the very least. You take a spoonful and blow on it to cool it down before taking a taste and sitting on one of the chairs at the island. 

"Does it taste all right?" Jake asks as he takes the seat next to you. 

You nod. "Tastes like a dream," you say, flashing him a grin. He laughs and begins to dig in to his own meal, leaving you to yours. And it isn't half bad, honestly. At the very least, you should let Jake have free reign of the kitchen, if he can make canned soup taste like this.  
The two of you eat in silence, broken only by Jake getting up to get himself a second helping. As the two of you finish, you grab both bowls and dump them in the sink, running water over them. You'll clean them later. 

You turn to leave the kitchen, almost running into Jake, who doesn't move for a second before hurriedly stepping off the side. You look questioningly at him but he quickly says, "You wouldn't have any sort of container? To hold the rest of this soup. I'd hate for it to go to waste!"

"Uh. Yeah." You point and Jake thanks you as you leave and he grabs the needed container. You enter your room and close the door behind you, grabbing the clothing you'd set aside on your bed and entering the bathroom. 

You make sure to lock the door behind you, placing your clothes on the counter and staring at yourself in the mirror. That - that was kinda weird. Maybe you're imagining things? Maybe you're making a bigger deal out of this than you need to. At any rate. You haven't showered in two days, which is a problem. But you can solve this problem. 

You turn the water on and quickly get in, making quick work of washing your hair and then the rest of you. Once done, you step out and towel off, then shave away what little stubble you've managed to acquire before you set to work on your hair. 

It doesn't take you long to style it. You've got years of practice under your belt - the first time you tried it took you a few hours, but you've gotten faster at it until you can probably whip up something presentable in ten minutes. Once you've put everything in the bathroom away (if only you would take such care with your bedroom), you grab your dirty clothes and exit. 

You drop the clothes in a pile on your bed, then take a seat at your desk and boot up your computer. As you wait for it to turn on, you reach for your coffee cup and take a sip, but quickly spit it back out. Eurgh. Cold coffee.

As you log in, Jake pokes his head in through your doorway and clears his throat to get your attention. "Yeah?" you say, looking up at him. 

He walks over to you, pauses, then holds out a phone - not yours, you notice, but you think you've seen it lying on a table in the living room. "You wouldn't happen to have a charger for this, would you? I left mine back home, and, well. I'd like to make sure I haven't missed anything."

You take the phone and look it over. It's quite a lot different than yours, actually, which isn't surprising, considering how old yours is. But it is fairly similar to the one you just ordered. "I've got a new phone coming in about a week, the charger for that would probably work for this. If not, I can make a run down to the store and grab something that'll work."

Jake nods and takes his phone back, thanking you, then pauses and glances curiously at your computer screen. You follow his line of sight and see that Pesterchum is already loaded. Of your very small chum roll, Dave is the only one online - which makes sense, since the only other two chums you have are apparently out to town together. 

"I say, I haven't seen anyone save for myself use that application in quite some time!" Jake says, and he looks excited. "Er, here. Would you mind scooting thataway?"

You hesitate, but you oblige, moving your chair off to the right while Jake leans forwards and begins to type something into the Pesterchum search bar. A few seconds later, he stands upright with a triumphant grin, saying, "There!"

You move your chair back and take a look at what he did. Where you used to only have a few chums, one more has been added to the list: golgothasTerror. You're going to go out on a limb and assume that's him. 

"My cousin and I used to use that to chat when we were in different parts of the house," Jake says when you glance up at him. "After we got phones, it became somewhat impractical to have the same conversation going on through both this and texts. But, golly, never thought I'd see anyone else using it!"

You grin a little. "Roxy introduced me to it," you say. "Said it'd be fun. And then I installed in on my bro's computer so that I could mess with him."

He laughs. "You seem like quite the entertaining family." He glances between you and the computer, then says, "Well, I was in the middle of watching something. You're welcome to join me." Maybe you're imagining it, but you think he sounds like he wants to watch it with you.

Before you actually think about it, you nod and say, "Sure. You up for popcorn?"

He nods, then begins to chatter about the movie he was watching. You're not really paying attention (you hear something about a musical number?), but you make the popcorn and pass him the bowl as the two of you crash onto your couch. And from there, between Jake's comments on how the movie is progressing, your own snarky comebacks, and a bit of a popcorn fight, you find that you rather like hanging out with Jake English.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact of the day: this story was originally called "aleg", because I don't like titles. I keysmash and then that's my title. When I first posted this, I was really tempted to keep it as aleg.
> 
> So, this chapter took about a month to do. And most of that was spent not working on it. I do have somewhat of an excuse - it's nearly the end of the school year and I've got projects coming from every direction, plus a huge concert next week. Seeing as it is the end of the year, though, and that I've already got a good idea of where I want next chapter to go, I should be able to crank that one out a lot sooner. Let's hope I'm able to stick to that!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To be fair, buying him a new phone charger is nowhere near making it up to him for both breaking his wing and then not fixing it properly. But it's a start.

The first call you get on your phone is from Tavros. And by 'first call you get', you mean that as you turned on the new phone after you had gone to the store to get your number switched, your phone had immediately busted out the default ringtone and made everyone in the store stop and stare at you. Which was a little embarrassing. 

As it stands, you're standing out of the rain and outside the store while Tavros tells you that the meeting is tonight at 8, at this warehouse that's maybe a ten minute drive from your place, and that you are to remind Jake to not put too much pressure on his wing. You say yes, okay, understood, and Tavros says goodbye and hangs up. 

You stare at your phone for a few seconds after the call ends before letting out a sigh and heading back into the store. The lady who was helping you previously glances up from her computer and beckons you over, so you head towards her. 

"So," she says as you approach, "your new phone is working properly?"

"Yeah."

She nods and types something out, then says, "Do you need anything else?"

You're about to say 'no' when a thought crosses your mind. "Yeah, actually. Do you have any chargers for…" You pause and pull out your old phone, shifting through it before you find a picture of Jake's phone. You wish you'd asked Jake what kind of phone he had back at your place. "This kind of phone?" You hold it up for the attendant and she squints at it. 

"Maybe. I'll take a look." She disappears behind some shelves, returning a few minutes later with a small box. "This one seems like it'll work. If it doesn't, you can always return it." You nod and she rings it up. 

You leave the store with Jake's charger and return home without fanfare. When you hand the charger to Jake, he wastes no time plugging in his phone, waiting anxiously by the wall where it's charging. You stifle a laugh and grab a drink from the fridge, then walk over and crash on the couch next to where Jake stands. 

"Is it working?" you ask, taking a sip of your drink. 

Jake waits a few moments before letting out a sigh and nodding, then sitting down next to you. "It appears so! I hope I haven't missed anything important while it was dead…" He trails off, then looks at you and smiles slightly. "Thanks for getting this for me. I'll pay you back for it once I-"

You cut him off, saying, "Bro, no need. It's the least I can do." To be fair, buying him a new phone charger is nowhere near making it up to him for both breaking his wing and then not fixing it properly. But it's a start. 

He shrugs and the two of you enter a companionable silence as Jake turns on the TV. You shift a little to get to a more comfortable position and your phone (which is bigger than your old one) digs into your hip. You reach to take it out of your pocket and set it on the couch, but pause as it reminds you of Tavros's call. 

"Oh, yeah," you say, and Jake glances at you. "Before I forget, Tavros called. The meeting's tonight at 8. You up for that?"

"Fit as a fiddle." 

"Alright. It's not too far away, so if we leave around 7:45 I can drop you off a few minutes before it begins."

He frowns. "You're not staying?"

"I - unless you want me to go with you." You're not sure if Tavros and the rest would want you around, considering your profession. To be fair, though, you aren't sure if they even know what you do for a living. You don't think you want them to find out.

"I'm sure they'd be fine with it. I say you should go! It'd be interesting, at the least," Jake says, and you shrug. 

"If you say so. I'll go, then."

Jake flashes you a grin and you roll your eyes and turn your attention to the TV, then to Jake's phone as it buzzes to life. 

"Oh! Fantastic!" Jake exclaims, jumping up and picking up his phone, carefully keeping the charger plugged in. You watch him as he enters his passcode and lets out a low whistle, his eyebrows scrunching up slightly. 

"Something wrong?" you ask, and he nods. 

"Seventeen missed calls and about twice that of messages," he says, and he frowns at the screen. "All from Jane."

"Jane sounds familiar," you say, taking another drink. "Who's she?"

"Works at the place that gave me my wings." He taps something out, then raises the phone to his ear and says, "Hopefully she'll pick up…"

You helpfully mute the TV while Jake waits for Jane to pick up, which doesn't take long. You can't hear what she's saying, but you can hear Jake's side of the conversation. 

"Ah, Jane! I'm sorry I haven't answered you promptly; my phone was dead and I was only just now able to get it charged. No, I don't know where she is. That's actually partly why I took so long to respond - What? No, Jane, what are you saying?" 

He inhales sharply as Jane clarifies whatever she said, then says, "Oh, Christ, Jane. I - What place was on the file?" He nods slowly. "Well. I'm actually - this is quite the twist of fate, because I'm there. Er, I think I am. Very close to it, at least. I can probably get over there and try to get to the bottom of this." He pauses. "I don’t think there's any need for that, but as soon as I know anything further, I shall ring you up and let you know." 

"All right. Goodbye, Jane." He slowly hangs up, then stares down at his phone in shock. 

You set your drink down and turn on the couch so that you're sitting cross-legged with the arm to your back. "Jake?" 

He jumps slightly, as if he had forgotten you were in the room with him. "Oh, sorry, mate! I - I -" He takes a seat on the couch with a loud _oomph_. "What day is it?"

"Tuesday. What happened?"

Jake takes a deep breath, then says, "A few days ago, Jane went in to work and noticed there were a few new files in her database. She glanced through them, nothing out of the ordinary, but then she spotted a picture of Jade in one. She… she understandably grew worried and tried to call me, tried to call Jade, but she got no response. She even called the facility that was on the file, the one that would have performed the operations and gotten everything squared away. Jane said she wasn't sure, but it sounded like Jade wasn't there anymore."

He sighs. "Coincidence or not, she said the facility was quite near to here, which leads me to believe that Jade may still be in the immediate area."

You nod slowly, absorbing the information. "That would also explain how Tavros's dad and brother got their wings," you say, and Jake looks up at you before looking back down at his hands. "You want to skip the meeting and get looking for her now?"

"I… I think the rescue mission can be put off," he says, though he sounds hesitant. "There's really no knowing where she is, and I reckon a good night's sleep couldn't hurt."

"All right." You pause, then glance at your phone for the time - it's 5:30. "Well, we'll be leaving in a couple hours, so until then I think I'm gonna be in my room." He nods, wings shuffling a little as you stand up and leave, grabbing your drink on your way out. 

Once in your room, you set your things down, then turn to the shelf by your door. Your sword hangs on it, next to Jake's pistols, and you run a finger down the side of one before picking them up, belt and all. You hold them for a moment, then bite your lip and walk back out of your room, holding the belt out to Jake, who's still sitting on the couch staring on his hands. You clear your throat, startling Jake, and continue holding the pistols out to him. 

He takes them from you, murmuring a thank you, and you quickly retreat back to your room, pausing in the doorway. Jake's running his hands over the pistols, checking them out, and then he's standing and removing them from their holsters and buckling the belt around his hips. He sits back down and sets the pistols down by his phone, still charging on a side table, and looks considerably more at ease as he turns to the remote and unmutes the TV. 

You duck back into your room as Jake settles down, letting out a slight sigh. You carefully close the door behind you, then sit down at your computer and set an alarm on your phone to make sure you aren't late. Then, you crack your knuckles and get to work on the reports for HQ you keep putting off. 

Time passes and before you know it, your phone is buzzing. You write a few lines more, then stretch your arms above your head and stand, slipping your phone in your pocket. You turn off the computer and grab your sword from the shelf it hands from, buckling the belt around your waist and slipping on some shoes and your shades before exiting your room. You probably won't need the weapon, but it makes you feel better to have it with you.

"Hey," you call out, "it's time to get going." 

Jake's looks up at you, then stands and unplugs his phone before putting it in his pocket - looks like he changed out of the sweatpants you'd lent him. He's wearing the clothing he'd arrived here in, which involves shorts and a jacket-shirt combo (a look you’ve never been able to pull off). He turns the TV off, then tucks his pistols into their holsters and arranges his jacket so that it covers them. 

You grab your keys and leave your apartment, locking it behind you and then leading Jake to the stairwell. As the two of you exit the building, Jake seems to grow tense, glancing around warily as you make your way to your truck. You suppose this is the first time he's been outside or just out of your apartment in general in… what, almost two weeks? Well. How time does fly.

As the two of you climb into the truck, you take a moment to adjust your sword so that it doesn't jab you in the side for your entire ride. Jake does the same with his pistols, then looks at you with one eyebrow raised as you hand him your phone. 

"The directions to the warehouse are already pulled up," you say, and you can practically see the question mark above his head fizzle into nonexistence. "Once we get to the south side of town, I'll need to know which way to turn." He nods and you buckle, pulling out of your parking spot and into the road. 

It's not a long drive. Your city seems to have an excess of warehouses, all located in one area, which is near where Roxy lives. You could drive to Roxy's place in your sleep, so you allow yourself to work on autopilot, paying equal amounts of attention to the road and Jake. 

You're a little worried about him, to be honest. His wing's almost better (probably? It shouldn't be too long, at any rate), but after Jane's call, you're not sure how he's holding up. 

"You should make a left turn after the next exit," Jake says, breaking your train of thought. You turn your full attention to the road and do as Jake said, then park alongside a large, ominous-looking building. 

"This must be the place," you say, leaning against the steering wheel. 

Jake makes a noise of agreement and unbuckles, then starts to get out of the truck. You pull your keys from the ignition and follow suit, locking the truck as you walk around to stand next to him. He hands you back your phone and you check the time, then tuck it away in your pocket. "We're right on schedule," you say. "Ready to head in?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Jake says, nervously wiping his hands on his shorts before he starts walking towards the building. 

As the two of you near the building, you spot a single flickering light over what you assume is the door you're supposed to enter through. Jake's hands gravitate towards his pistols as you reach for and test the door - it's unlocked, so you open it and slowly enter. 

It's not nearly as dark inside as it is outside. There's a couple barely-working lights on the ceiling, high above your head, and one much stronger light coming from the center of the room. You can hear voices in that direction, muffled a little by large storage containers, so you glance at Jake before you head towards them. 

The two of you walk past the containers and are greeted by the sight of a half-dozen people standing around a large, round table, talking in hushed voices. You recognize Tavros, talking to two people that look quite a lot like him. You suppose they must be his family members, and you're about to call out to him when one of the other people gets a good look at you. 

"Whoa, Dirk? What're you doing here?"

A shadowy figure hurriedly walks towards you, revealing herself to be one of your coworkers. Not that you've talked to her much - she works pretty much exclusively in the burglary division. It probably has a real name that isn't 'burglary division' but - wow. You'd never have expected to see her here. 

"Long story," you say. "But, that aside, hello to you too, Nepeta." The corners of her mouth twitch upwards slightly, but she still looks confused. 

As you speak, you can see the others start gravitating towards you and Jake, and Jake takes a step closer to you. You glance at him, noting the nervous look on his face and the way one of his hands rests on his weapon, and you bite your lip before another voice turns your attention away from him. 

"I'm glad you made it," Tavros says, moving to stand next to you and Jake. He turns to Jake, asking him how his wing's been doing, and you turn to Nepeta and the two people that have moved to stand near her. 

Nepeta glances towards them, then to you. "Oh, Dirk, this is my mom and Equius. Equius, Mom, this is Dirk." You nod and shake hands with them both, wincing a little as Equius squeezes your hand a little too hard. 

"Pleased to meet you," you say, and Nepeta's mom smiles at you. You glance between the others, then ask, "So, is this everyone?"

Nepeta nods as her mother and Equius takes seats at the table in the middle of the room. "Usually there's a couple others," she says, moving to sit next to Equius, and you take the seat next to her as she continues her train of thought. "The meetings are really just a way to make sure everyone's up to date on whatever's going on, so it's not really as though they have to come." She glances towards her mother, then leans in and raises her hand to cover her mouth as she whispers, "One of them's my mom's boy-fur-end." She wiggles her eyebrows and you laugh. 

Jake takes the empty seat next to you, shortly followed by Tavros and his family. As they sit, the eldest of the three Nitrams clears his throat and all the little side conversations die down as everyone turns to face him. 

"I'd like to say a quick welcome to these two young men - Dirk and Jake," he says, looking a little hesitant as he says your names. You nod and he relaxes a little, then continues. "I am Tavros's father. Call me Mr. Nitram, if you would. This is my son Rufioh," he gestures to the boy sitting next to Tavros, then looks to Jake, "and I believe we share something in common with you." 

Jake looks nervous, but he nods. He shifts slightly on the edge of his chair, then says, "I was told as much." His wings twitch behind him slightly as he pauses, then he asks, "If I might cut to the chase, are we the only three? Mutants, I mean.""The only three here, yeah," says Rufioh. "But there's more of us out there. Some of 'em we know, right, they usually come to the meetings too… There's probably more we don't know, don't really want to, I don't think."

"The first mutants were regarded as a disaster, from what we've been able to learn," Mr. Nitram says. "From a physical standpoint, they were successful; however, they were extremely violent and were more animal than human." He frowns, then adds, "Only one of them still exists, from what we know. A dog-mutant."

"In regards to how many of us exist currently, there's… only a small handful. There's Rufioh and I, who are part… butterfly, we think. We're not entirely sure." He coughs, seemingly embarrassed, then continues. "There's only one who is part bird, and that's you. There's Nepeta's sister, Meulin - she's part cat." 

You glance at Nepeta as Mr. Nitram speaks and see that her lips are pressed in a tight line. "Unfortunately," Mr. Nitram says, causing you look back at him, "Meulin is unable to join us. She's still in the facility - we think it's the one where Rufioh and I… ah… that one." 

He pauses, then says, "Those are the only ones we know of for sure. We've heard rumors of more, but they haven't led to anything yet."

Jake's frowns. "Do you mean that there's only… what was that, five of us?" 

Rufioh nods. "Way back when, when they started out, they messed up a lot… Which is why they had to resort to grabbing people off the streets, we think. People didn't want to volunteer because they were told of all the risks. There was a pretty big chance that if you underwent the procedure, you'd die."

Jake pales slightly and you ask, "Is it as big of a risk now?" Rufioh shakes his head and you see Jake let out a sigh of relief. 

The meeting goes on for another half hour. Rufioh and Jake talk for a bit before Rufioh stretches out his wings for Jake to see - Mr. Nitram's probably right when he says that the two of them have butterfly in them now. There's really no other way to describe their wings. Rufioh's are big and a bright bronze color, and he shows off a little, flapping them slightly before he lifts off and flies a few circles around the group. You watch for a while before you feel a tap on your shoulder. 

"So," Nepeta says, once she has your attention. "Why _are_ you here? You never did answer."

You shrug. "It's… complicated. Jake was the target of a job, I was supposed to kill him, you know, since he's a mutant and all?" Nepeta's eyes widen at this and you start to feel a little uncomfortable. "Um. HQ doesn't like mutants," you clarify. "Most of the assassination jobs are specifically for them. "

Nepeta seems at a loss for words before she grabs your arm and hisses, "Were any of them fur - _for_ \- Meulin?"

"Meu - oh, your sister, cat-mutant, right?" She nods and you shake your head. "Nope. Usually it's canine-looking ones. No cats." 

She breathes a sigh of relief and lets go of your arm, but her relief is quickly covered with a frown. "Why would HQ do this?" she mutters, and you're about to respond when she looks up at you. "That's off topic. Continue with your story!"

You nod slowly. "Right. Well, I was supposed to get rid of him, but I. Well, I just didn't. I broke his wing during the fight and then ended up bringing him back to my place, tried to fix him up, but that didn't work out too well." You shrug. "I called Tavros, thinking that a vet would be more useful in the art of not-fucking-up-broken-wings than my untrained ass, and now here we are."

A strange glint's in her eyes and she leans in a little closer. "Why didn't you kill him?"

"People were coming. And then… Then I guess I didn't want to." 

She grins and glances between you and Jake, then giggles a little. "Is it because -"

You make an 'X' with your arms in front of your chest, interrupting her. "Okay, no. Let's not even start to go there. 'There' is a place you do not want to go." She giggles again and you lower your arms, sighing. "You're as bad as Roxy, I swear."

Jake chooses this moment to appear next to you. When you glance up at him, he says, "Mr. Nitram says the meeting is pretty much done. We're free to leave." He looks a little antsy, so you say goodbye to Nepeta (ignoring the wicked gleam in her eyes) and the rest before leaving the warehouse and finding where you parked your truck. 

"Was the meeting all you'd hoped for and more?" you ask as you shut the door and start up the engine. 

"It was… certainly informative," Jake says, then he sighs. "I'm afraid I'm not used to people, though. Even such a small number sets me on edge." He's silent for a few minutes as you drive out of the parking lot, then says, "Oh, yes, before I forget - Tavros told me that he'll drop by the apartment in a few days to check my wing. He says it should be nearly healed by then, he just needs to see how much longer it'll take." 

You nod. "Good to know. Once it's healed, what do you think you'll do?"

"I… haven't thought that far ahead, to be honest." He frowns, thinking. "Even if we find Jade, I'd imagine it would be a while before I could think about taking to the skies again, so I'll probably end up sticking around here for a bit." He glances at you, then adds, "As long as that's okay with you." 

"Yeah, it's all cool with me." He smiles slightly, then looks out the window.

A few minutes pass and then the two of you are stepping out of your truck, into the cool night air, and making your way back into the apartment building. You're silent as you enter the apartment, the only noise the sound of the door closing behind you (Jake even locks it. What a pal) and the sound of your keys clinking as you put them away. 

You walk into your bedroom and kick off your shoes and hang your sword up by your door, then push your shades up so that they rest on top of your head. You're about to go grab something to drink when there's a knock on the door and Jake pokes his head into your room, the rest of his body following soon after. 

"Need something?" you ask. 

"Would you be game for a trip out west?"

You frown. "How far west are we talking? All the way to California?"

He laughs, then says, "No, oh, no, but that would be quite the adventure! Only to my house. Well, my and Jade's house." When you say nothing, he adds, "I'd like to pick up some fresh clothes. I'd hate to impose on you any more than this, and now that I have a solid lead on where Jade might be, I'd thought it would be a good idea." 

You nod slowly, moving backwards slightly so that you can lean against your desk. "Yeah, I'm down for that. When do you wanna go?"

He pauses, then says, "Tomorrow?"

"Oh. Didn't you want to look for Jade tomorrow?"

His wings flutter behind him and he rubs the back of his neck. "Mm, yeah. I was…" He lets out a sigh and looks away. "I'm worried sick, Strider. I don't know what's happened to her - Jane wasn't very specific, but she did say that the paperwork was all in place for the operations to have gone on. It's just… After hearing what Mr. Nitram had to say about the other mutants that died, or the ones that went crazy, I'm…"

"He also said that it's a lot safer now." He glances at you and you continue, "But I see your point. We'll leave tomorrow for your place." You move away from your desk and walk around Jake, going into the kitchen to grab a soda. You pop the tab and turn to face Jake, who has moved and is now standing on the other side of the counter. "How long does it take to get there?"

"Um." He doesn't answer right away and you raise an eyebrow. "Well, you see, I flew here, and that took an hour. Give or take. I'd imagine it would take a bit longer than that." 

"All right. Let's say it's a couple hours. Four or five for a round trip, plus an hour there to grab your stuff… Six hours tops, maybe." You take a drink of your soda, then say, "What time?"

"Noon, maybe?"

You nod. "That works for me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Mr. Nitram's first name is Dante (as in Basco).
> 
> Finally getting to some of the fun stuff in this chapter! Phones and mutants and meetings, oh my. There's also a few more characters. To be honest, I'm not sure how many characters I'll end up writing into the story - I have ideas as to how they all fit into the universe, but a good portion of them will probably not make any appearances.
> 
> That being said, it's summer! Hope y'all are all done with school and ready to have fun :]


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Backstory. Story with a back.

You don't sleep for a while that night. You're not thinking, not quite, just… remembering things. For a while you think about strifes with your brothers, both in Texas and here, and then around 2 A.M. you switch to thinking about a project you did for your 8th grade science class. You think about the day you first met Roxy, playing some game together, and then the day you met her in person, the day she moved here. As you fall asleep, nearly five hours later, you think about meeting Jake, almost two weeks ago to the day. 

When you wake up, it's to Jake tapping your shoulder and saying, "Strider, are you going to sleep all day?"

You make a grumbling sound and he laughs a little. You roll over so that you're lying on your back and sit up, rubbing at your eyes with one hand before saying, "What time is it?"

"About 11 o'clock."

You groan and flop back down, one arm thrown over your face and blocking your vision. "Too early. Lemme sleep."

"Absolutely not! We have plans today, Strider, and you need to be awake for them!"

You lower your arm so that you can glare at him and he laughs again, walking away from you and towards the door. "There's a cup of coffee out here for you, if you want it," he calls over his shoulder, closing the door behind him. 

You groan again and roll over. 

A few minutes later sees you considerably more awake and wearing a clean shirt and jeans. You stifle a yawn - you can't remember feeling this tired, at least, not since the time you stayed up for a week. You'd eventually passed out at your computer and woken up with the shape of your keyboard imprinted on your face, a stiff neck, and a massive headache. 

You pull the door open and immediately squint at the light streaming into the apartment. Slowly, you reopen your eyes and make your way to the window over your sink, and as you look out, you're surprised by the lack of rain until you glance upwards and notice that it's all blue sky. Huh. Took forever for that rainy spell to go away, though you're glad it finally did. You make a mental note to grab your shades before you leave, otherwise the sun's gonna be a pain in the ass.

As you turn away from the window, you spot Jake lounging on the sofa, watching you. You raise an eyebrow and he points to a still-steaming cup of coffee sitting on the counter. "That one's yours," he says, and you nod in thanks before picking it up and gingerly taking a sip, careful not to burn your tongue. 

As you drink, you walk over to Jake and take a seat next to him. "You still up to leave at noon?" 

He nods. "That I am." He glances at his phone, then says, "We have about fifteen minutes."

You finish your coffee and stand up to get a refill. "Sounds good to me." 

Fifteen minutes later, the two of you make your way outside. As you approach your truck, though, you stop just before getting inside and ask, "Do you want to drive this time?" He glances at you, confused, and you continue. "Since you probably know more about where we're going than I do." 

The sight of the oversized jacket that he's wearing to cover his wings twitching almost makes you crack a smile. He frowns at you, then says, "Well, if you'd like me to, I can." You pass him your keys and climb inside, trying not to smile when Jake tries to use your apartment key to start the truck.

As the two of you head out onto the road, you consult the instructions on your phone. Google Maps says that it should only take two hours to get there. It _also_ says that there's light traffic, but you find that hard to believe as Jake pulls out of the city and onto an incredibly busy freeway. 

For a while, the two of you are silent. You occupy yourself by watching people in other cars as you drive past, but that gets real boring real fast, so you turn back to the inside of the car. After a few minutes, you ask, "So I know you're gonna grab some clothes, but are you picking up anything else?"

"Not a whole lot. Perhaps my computers, or some books. Hah, come to think of it, I probably could have held off on getting a new phone charger." 

You smile a little, then ask, "Wait, computers? Plural? Dude, how many computers do you have?"

He glances over at you. "As many as any sensible person, I suppose. Five on the person at any given time, which is, well, just a tad untrue at the moment. I didn't want to weigh myself down too much on the way here." He shrugs. "But as soon as I get home, I will definitely grab them."

"Five computers? Sensible?" You shake your head. 

"Of course it's sensible! One must stay well-equipped in the computational department at all times," he says, rather primly. 

"And who taught you that? Or is that a nugget of pure Jake English wisdom?"

He frowns. "My grandma. She always was an advocate for preparedness. Back when I lived with her, she made sure that I never left the house lacking in computers. Or firepower, for that matter! She was quite insistent on that."

"Sounds like quite the gal," you say.

"Oh, she was! Smart as a whip - she was truly brilliant - and she taught me everything I know about shooting." He looks a little wistful, then says, "Some of my fondest memories include her. I only wish that we'd had more time together!"

"Did she die? No, wait, shit, that was kinda inconsiderate, I -" 

Jake cuts you off with a laugh and waves his hand. "Nonsense. Yes, she's dead, but I have long since come to terms with it! It did happen nearly a decade ago."

You nod slowly. "Did you live here? In the place we're heading to, I mean." 

He shakes he head. "Nope. And I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to tell you where it was that I lived, either!" He laughs again. "I lived with Grandma on an island. My parents lived there too, of course, but they both took off not long after I was born. Never did learn why, but I suppose raising a child just wasn't their cup of tea. Can't say I blame them! I certainly wouldn't want to have been in their shoes." 

"Though," he continues, "I do think it would have been nice to live with more than just one person. Grandma was great company, of course, but if my parents had stayed, that would have been grand." 

You take a moment to let all that sink in, then say, "So why'd you leave?"

"Once Grandma had died, the place felt… rather empty. I suppose I was a little lonely, too? By that point I was talking to Jade regularly and she suggested I find my way here and live with her. Her parents were out of the picture by then, but they had left her the house - the one we're going to - and she was in the same boat I was. So I packed up and headed out here." 

"Damn," you say. "That's quite a childhood you had there." 

He nods, then looks at you and grins. "That it was." After a short pause, he asks, "Was your own anything similar?"

You laugh softly. "Nope." He glances at you, curious, and you sigh. "I'm from Texas, I told you that, yeah? Yeah. Houston, born and raised. My parents were kinda like yours, I guess. I did know them, sort of - they only skipped out after Dave was born. I was… five? Four or five." 

He raises an eyebrow. "Dave?" 

"My younger brother." He nods and you continue. "Bro, that's the older one, he took care of us. Don't know how he didn't let us get shipped off to foster care or something like that, but he managed on his own for a few years, doing as much as he could. For a while, that worked. After that we ran into difficulty making ends meet, and that's when he joined HQ." 

You sigh again. "That made everything easier for us. But we had to move out here when I was fourteen, and then, when I was eighteen, Bro died on a job." You shrug. "I got my own place and the rest is history."

"Oh, well. That's - that is very different than my own," he says, frowning a little. He pauses for a moment, then asks, "Why'd you move out here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"There was an issue," you say, slowly. "The three of us - me, Bro, and Dave - were walking home and some kid jumped out of an alley and went straight for Bro with this big-ass knife. It could've gone a lot worse if Bro hadn't had his sword, but he did, and he ended up killing the guy." You shrug again and say, "Bro got transferred out of Houston and to this place to try and keep that from happening again."

Jake's expression is one of pure shock as he turns in his seat to stare at you, barely paying attention to the road. "Dirk," he says, and you cut him off before he can say anything else. 

"Yeah," you say, "it wasn't the best thing in the world. But it happened."

You're silent for a few minutes after that, unwilling to talk about it anymore than you already have - honestly? The entire thing brings back bad memories. Jake's clearly a little put off by your silence and looks like he wants to say something more, but eventually all he says is, "Well, that's - I see." He pauses, then says, "You didn't mention Roxy, but you seem to you've known her for quite a while."

You nod, somewhat relieved at the change of topic. "Yeah, I've known her for a long time. We met back when we were still in middle school, though we only met in person a few years ago." You trail off, thinking, then say, "We were playing some MMO and she kicked my ass and I wanted to return the favor, but we started talking instead. We kept talking even after we quit playing that game, and after high school she moved down here and we became roommates. That lasted a year or two until she found her own place and she moved out. That doesn’t stop her from coming over at all hours of the night like she still lives there." 

"Once," you say, smiling slightly, "she was coming home from a party and in her somewhat-drunken haze she ended up at my place. This was a while after she moved out, but she was convinced she still lived there. She thought I was playin' some kind of joke on her when I told her that all her stuff was no longer in the building."

Jake laughs and your smile widens. "The two of you have quite the friendship."

The two of you continue chatting about your lives as you drive. Jake tells you stories from his days on the island, full of strange creatures and pumpkins, and you tell him about how you learned to strife. You tell him about your love for horses and he tells you about his favorite comic books. You don't think you've opened up so much to a person since you met Roxy. By the time you're pulling into Jake's driveway, you think it'd be safe to say that you and Jake have successfully crossed the boundary into friendship. 

Jake parks your truck and gets out, taking off the jacket so that he can stretch his wings, and you follow suit. As you close the door, you take a look at Jake's house and you can feel your eyes widen from behind your shades. Jake's house is less of a house and more of a mansion, some billionaire's weekend getaway, accessible only through a barely-traveled dirt road and situated right at the edge of a forest.

You're still staring when Jake locks the truck and walks around it to give you back your keys. He frowns at you, and looks like he's about to say something, but you beat him to it. "Holy shit, dude."

His wings shuffle a little and he rubs the back of his neck, laughing a little awkwardly. "Aha, yes. Jade's parents were quite well-off, so she tells me, and they wasted no expense on their home." 

You nod and take your keys, then follow him into the house. He stoops slightly to rummage through a potted plant by the door before grinning and unlocking the door with what you assume is a spare key. He throws the door wide open and motions for you to follow him inside. 

The inside of the house is just as impressive as the outside. There's a few stuffed animal heads hanging from the walls, what looks to be a greenhouse going off of one side, and a large spiral staircase going upwards. You follow the path of the staircase with your eyes and catch sight of a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling, glittering and creating little patches of rainbow light on the walls. 

Jake glances back at you as you enter and grins, already hurrying up the staircase. "C'mon, Dirk, this way."

You follow, somewhat warily, as Jake leads the way through a long hallway and towards a set of rooms. The doors to one are open and you take a peek inside as you walk past, finding it full of aquatic stuffed animals and several guitars. It looks like it hasn't been touched in a while. The room Jake enters, though, is far different. 

There's movie posters covering every inch of the walls and a large pile of guns off to one side, next to what you assume is supposed to be the case the guns go in. You think it's safe to say that this room is Jake's, and you say as much. 

He turns to you and shrugs. "Is it that obvious?" You raise an eyebrow over your shades and he grins. You don't think you've seen him this happy before. 

You lean against the doorframe and Jake grabs a duffel bag off the floor and starts filling it with clothing and various things from around the room. You watch as he puts another pair of pistols between several shirts, then a laptop, what looks to be the entire contents of his sock drawer, and some comic books to top it all off. 

"You suck at packing, bro," you say, and he frowns at you before moving to collect more things. 

"I do not. This is the way I've always done it and it works like a charm every time." He returns with a few pairs of pants and puts a few in on top of the books, then shoves the rest inside of a backpack. 

"And how many times might that be?"

"…Two." You try to muffle your laughter but he hears it, frowning at you some more before he shoves some more things into his backpack. He then zips up his bags and glances around the room before turning to you and shoving the duffel bag into your arms. As he walks away from you and down the hall, he says, "I need to look in a few of the other rooms. If all you have to do is laugh at a perfectly reasonable method of packing, then I daresay you can hold this for me." 

You follow him, bag slung over one shoulder, as he travels back downstairs and into a side room. As you enter, you're somewhat caught off guard. One wall is taken up by a huge TV screen and bookcases filled with movie cases frame a large couch. You probably shouldn't be surprised, considering that this is where Jake English lives.

"Jake," you say, slowly, "please tell me you won't try to take your entire movie collection with you."

He shakes his head, standing in front of one of the bookshelves and skimming the titles of his movies and picking out a few. "No, no, nothing like that. Just a few. Do you have Blu-ray?" He glances at you over his shoulder and you nod. "Oh, great. I was worrying I'd have to leave this one here!" Six or seven movie cases go into his backpack and he moves on to another shelf, grabbing more from there. After a few minutes, he glances around before nodding, seemingly to himself. 

"All right," he says, walking over to you. "I think that's all I'll need."

"Do you have all five of those computers?"

The corners of his mouth twitch. "Of course." He leaves the room and you follow, taking his backpack from him as he locks the door behind him. You put both bags into the back of your truck, then turn to Jake as he walks over to you. 

"Ready to head back?" 

He touches his pockets, as if to check he hasn’t forgotten his phone or something equally important, and then nods. "Do you want me to drive again?"

"You didn't crash it the first time, why the hell not." He wrinkles his nose and you grin at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, all my careful planning in regards to backstory becomes useful.
> 
> Various other things that should be mentioned: Jane/John are not related to Jake or Jade in this AU. The Harley-English parents are nobodies, really, and exist only so that their respective children can have a good excuse for living with their now-deceased grandparent. At this point in time Roxy is not an alcoholic, nor is Rose. Mom is, though, and she is the only kid guardian still living. Isn't that nice?
> 
> Next chapter should start on the entirety of the Jade issue and figuring out What's Up with that.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TT: You don't know that.   
>  TT: He could be as gay as you are.   
>  TT: He's Schrödinger's gay.

When you get back to the apartment, neither of you sleep. Jake's nervous and, after haphazardly unpacking some of his things and dropping them around the couch, has taken to pacing about the living room. You slept last night, so you're not very tired - instead, you lean against the counter and eat some chips as you watch him. It'd be a little funny if you weren't starting to share Jake's worry for his cousin. 

After a while, though, you decide you've had enough of Jake's pacing and you say goodnight as you disappear into your room. Once inside, it's easy enough to waste the rest of the night working and fiddling with various projects. As you multitask, AR starts to ping you, apparently wanting to chat. You decide to indulge him. 

TT: It seems you've been busy lately.  
TT: It seems as though I have a life.  
TT: Ha, ha, you're hilarious.  
TT: But seriously. You haven't had this much happening in your life since Roxy moved out.  
TT: Okay, and?  
TT: What's up with that?  
TT: What do you mean?  
TT: I can understand why you'd be busy with Roxy.  
TT: She has a lot of stuff going on all at the same time and, because you lived with her, you became part of it.  
TT: She's also your best friend, which just reaffirms the above point.  
TT: But you've been busy with someone you only just met.  
TT: And what a meeting.  
TT: Look, if you're here to make me feel guilty about that, there's really no need for that.  
TT: I'm not here to do that at all.  
TT: I'm only here to find out why you've taken such an interest in him.

You pause.

TT: What does it matter to you?  
TT: I'm curious.  
TT: Are you.  
TT: Yes, I am.  
TT: I'm curious as to why you've taken an interest in a mutant and I'm curious as to why you lied to HQ about his current status among the living.  
TT: Because he's my friend, that's why.  
TT: Are you sure he's just your friend?  
TT: What else would he be?  
TT: A boyfriend.  
TT: What? No.  
TT: He's not my boyfriend.  
TT: But you want him to be.  
TT: I'm not sure where you got that idea from.  
TT: I am you. I have the same ideas you do.  
TT: You have the same ideas a 13-year-old me has.  
TT: How fortunate it is that that was the age you discovered your sexuality.  
TT: I don't know why I’m talking to you about this.  
TT: At any rate, he's straight.  
TT: You don't know that.  
TT: He could be as gay as you are.  
TT: He's Schrödinger's gay.

You sigh, leaning back in your chair and lifting your gaze to stare at the ceiling. For all that AR is just a computerized copy of your past self, he's... surprisingly good at understanding human emotions.

Of course you like Jake. If you don't like someone, why be friends with them? There's no point to it. You can't deny that he's definitely someone you could easily be attracted to. He's attractive, and he's funny, and he's just generally a great guy. He didn't react badly when you came out to him. He was understanding and listened to you when you told him about your past. 

Do you _like_ like him?

TT: Well.  
TT: Let's put it this way: I don't know if he's straight or not, and until I do, I'm not going to waste my time trying to figure out whether or not I like him.  
TT: There's no point liking a straight boy.  
TT: I suppose I can't fault you for that.   
TT: But when you do open the box, tell me if the cat's alive or dead, will you?

timaeusTestified [TT] ceased pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

You leave your room in the morning, when the first rays of light start to make their way past your blinds. The coffee machine's already brewing a pot, so you stand around waiting for it to finish. As you wait, you can hear Jake's waking-up grumbling, and you glance at him as he walks over and rubs at his eyes. 

"Mornin'," you say. 

"Good morning," he says, yawning. "What time is it?"

"Dunno. Time for the sun to be out and about." He snorts and you grin, turning to grab coffee mugs. The coffee machine finishes brewing soon after and you fill up both mugs, passing one to Jake. He takes it and shuffles back towards the couch and you follow, leaning against the wall as he sits down. 

"So," Jake says, a minute later, breaking the silence. "I was… Tavros messaged me last night - I gave him my handle at the meeting, for ease of communication and all - and said that he'd like to swing by and take a look at my wing. He says he should be able to take the splint off soon, assuming all has gone well." He takes a sip of his coffee, then adds, "I was also thinking that afterwards might be a good time to start our search for Jade." 

You nod slowly. "Sounds good to me. Tavros tell you when he's comin' by?"

"He said around 9, and…" he leans over to grab his phone and check the time, "it's 8:20 right now. So it shouldn't be too long." 

"Right, okay." You finish your coffee and head back to the kitchen, pouring yourself a second cup, then open the fridge and stare at the contents for a few minutes. "How do you feel about breakfast?" you call, grabbing a carton of eggs and closing the fridge. 

"Hungry." 

"Eggs good with you?"

"Yep."

You turn around and set the eggs down by your coffee cup, then get to work finding a pan and cracking eggs into it. For a moment, you consider making fried eggs, or an omelet, but then you remember that you are terrible at cooking. Terrible, that is, unless you're making scrambled eggs, so that's what you start to make. 

As you cook, you rummage in a cabinet before pulling out a loaf of bread. You carefully check it, to make sure it's still good, then pop a few pieces into the toaster as you dish up the eggs. The toast is done a minute later and you put a piece on Jake's plate before setting it on the counter, calling, "Order up, bro."

He glances up, downing the last of his coffee before stretching and walking over. You push your own plate next to his and walk around the counter, taking a seat, and the two of you eat in companionable silence for a while. When he finishes, he compliments your cooking and you laugh. 

At almost precisely 9, there's a knock at your door. You glance at Jake, then move to the door and open it. Tavros stands on the other side, bag in hand, looking noticeably less nervous than he did the last time he was here. You step back to allow him in and he enters, waving slightly at Jake and offering you a quiet "Hello". 

"Morning, mate!" Jake says as he stands, taking Tavros's hand in both of his and giving it a firm shake. 

"Morning," Tavros says, setting his bag down at his feet as Jake releases his hand. He glances between you and Jake as he rubs his shoulder slightly - you suppose his bag must be pretty heavy, though you're not really sure what he'd have in it. 

The three of you stand in a semi-awkward silence before Jake breaks it, clearing his throat and taking a few steps towards your room. "Well, let's get this done," he says, smiling slightly, his wings shifting behind him. Tavros nods and picks his bag back up, following Jake into your room and closing the door behind him. 

You stand still and bite your lip, staring at the door they disappeared behind, before shaking your head slightly and moving behind the counter. You spend a few minutes cleaning the dishes from breakfast, then finish off the rest of the coffee and sit down on the couch. 

As you idly flick through channels, trying to decide on something to watch, Jake and Tavros come out of your room. You glance at them and note the pleased look on both their faces - something must have gone well, but the splint is still on Jake's wing. 

"So," Tavros says, and you turn your attention to him, "If you don’t mind, I'll be back in a couple of days. Jake's wing is healing, really well, all things considered, and by then it should be fine to remove the, um, splint." He pauses, then turns to Jake and says, "Remember to stretch it out a little, if you can. That'll help it finish healing." 

Jake nods and grins at Tavros, then walks with him to the door, saying goodbye as he closes it. Once that's done, he turns to you and his grin widens. 

"It went well, then?" 

"Did it ever!" Jake replies, crashing down on the couch next to you. "In a few days, everything will be much easier. Of course, I still won't be able to fly - Tavros tells me that that will take a while longer, once the splint is off. But, oh, man alive, will it feel good to get the blasted thing off!"

You laugh, then look away. You still feel bad that you're one who broke Jake's wing, though, if you hadn't, you probably wouldn't have gained a friend. 

A few minutes pass as you think about friendship and breaking bones and what AR said to you last night before Jake clears his throat, looking at you somewhat expectantly. 

"Hm? Sorry, did you say something?" 

"That I did. I asked if you were ready to start looking for Jade." 

You nod slowly. "Yeah. Where do you want to start?"

Jake pauses, thinking, then says, "Jane mentioned there was a facility nearby. She did say that Jade... probably wasn't there anymore, but it'd be something to work off of."

"Yeah, sounds good. Checking the place out will give us some idea of where to go next."

"How exactly are we going to get into that place? It's bound to have some pretty tight security."

You glance over at him, then back at the TV. "Roxy," you say. "We could use Roxy."

"Use... Roxy?"

"Yeah. Remember, she's a pro at getting in and out of places she shouldn't be. That's actually part of her job description." He laughs at this and you turn to look at him, saying, "What, you think I'm kidding? The entirety of my own job description is 'fucks shit up'."

"Roxy it is," Jake says, grinning.

"I'll see if she's up for it," you say, getting up and heading back to your room to pester Roxy.

timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG]

TT: Yo, Roxy. You there?  
TT: Roxy.  
TT: R-o-x-y.

Fifteen minutes pass between each message and you wonder if she's ignoring you, then quickly dismiss the thought. You're about to go back out and tell Jake that Roxy's unresponsive when she finally replies.

TG: calm ur tits  
TG: momma rolals here  
TT: Consider my tits calmed.  
TT: Am I interrupting something?  
TG: nah  
TG: was showin sollux a thing or 2 about gaming  
TG: 'stupid game' he said  
TG: 'cant beat this lvl' he said  
TG: 'i cant beat it what makes u think you can' he said  
TT: I assume he got his ass thoroughly kicked?  
TG: u betcha  
TT: He had it coming.  
TG: lol  
TG: SO  
TG: wassup  
TT: There's a situation. You remember Jake telling you his cousin was missing?  
TG: yeah  
TG: did you find her?  
TT: Nope. We do have a lead, however.  
TT: There's a facility nearby, just south of your apartment. That's Jade's last known whereabouts.  
TT: Problem is, we're pretty sure she isn't there anymore.  
TT: A lead is still a lead, so we're gonna head over there and check the place out, try and get our hands on any information we can.  
TT: Which is where you come in.  
TG: ?  
TT: When it comes to breaking and entering you're simply the best there is.  
TT: You'd be damn useful.  
TG: aww u sure know the way to a girls heart <3  
TG: when r you thinkin of heading over there?  
TT: Soon. We could pick you up around 11, if you want.  
TG: mmk that works  
TG: ill head home now  
TG: cant go breakin and enterin in sweats now can i  
TG: gotta be fashionabelle  
TT: All right. I'll text you when I'm out front.  
TT: See you in 20.  
TG: cya there

tipsyGnostalgic [TG] ceased pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

You stand up, walking over to the door and poking your head out. "Hey, Jake." He glances over and you shift so that you're leaning against the doorframe. "Roxy's up for it. Gonna pick her up at her place in a few minutes. Do you want to come with or should we come back here?"

"I can come with you. It'll probably be easier, that way we can set up a plan of action on the way." He looks excited and you smile slightly. 

"All right. I'll grab my stuff and we'll go." You turn away from the door and slip your shoes and shades on, then walk over to your desk. Your wallet, phone, and a pocketknife go in separate pockets, your sword goes to your hip, and you walk out and towards the front door feeling ready for whatever happens. 

Jake's already waiting there, shifting from foot to foot. His pistols are at his sides and he gives you a bright, nervous grin as you grab your keys and walk out into the hallway. 

The ride over to Roxy's apartment is quick, and you pull up outside the building and park. Jake glances around, taking in the area, and you pull your phone to let Roxy know you've arrived. 

**[Di-stri]** We're here - parked on the corner. [10:58]  
**[Ro-lal]** ok im headin down in a sec [11:00]  
**[Ro-lal]** do u think i need my rifle? [11:01]

You glance at Jake's pistols, then at your sword. 

**[Di-stri]** We've got plenty of firepower. Literally, in Jake's case. [11:02]  
**[Ro-lal]** lol k imma head out now [11:03]

You put your phone away and true to her word, Roxy pushes open the doors to her building just a few minutes later, her bag slung over one shoulder. She glances around before spotting your truck and grins, hurrying over to you.

She throws open the door to the back of your truck with gusto and slams it in much the same way, saying, "Heya, Dirk, Jake!" as she drops her bag on the floor and leans forwards between the two front seats.

"Hey, Rox."

"Hello!" says Jake, and he and Roxy immediately launch into a conversation that you tune out. You don't pull out of your parking spot, though, deciding to wait until they finish so that you can get going.

"I'm starving," comes Roxy's voice from the backseat, startling you slightly. "Hey, Dirky, what'dya say we go make a game plan over lunch?" 

You glance at Jake. "That's cool with me." Jake nods in agreement and you grin, looking into the rearview mirror to meet Roxy's gaze. "You down for burgers?"

"You thinkin' about Flip's?"

"Fuck yes." Roxy returns your grin and you start up the engine, pulling out into the street and easily finding yourself en route to Flip's.

Jake looks at you curiously, then asks, "Flip's?"

You nod, still grinning. "Best burger joint in the city. You'll love it." 

It's not long before you make your way through the drive-thru, ordering three burgers with the works, fries for all, and sodas to go. Once you've gotten your food, you pull into an empty parking spot and divvy up your meal, inhaling deeply as the smell of fast food fills your truck. 

The three of you are silent for a few minutes as you dig in. As you take a sip of your drink, you watch Jake out of the corner of your eye, gauging his reaction. He notices your gaze and grins widely at you, saying, "This is fantastic, Dirk," through a mouthful of fries. 

You return the grin, then glance back at Roxy. "You ready to talk infiltration?"

She nods, finishing off her burger before steepling her fingers in a very Rose-ish way. "Tell me everything you know on the place."

Between bites of your own meals, you and Jake tell her about Rufioh and Mr. Nitram, about Meulin. Jake tells her about the facility he'd gone to, everything he can remember. You tell her about the files, about how they keep physical ones - Jake's file, still sitting in your desk at home, is proof of that - but also digital ones, since Jane was able to see the files from miles away. Jake tells her that Jade's most likely a mutant now. She nods, taking everything in, and you finish your drink as she thinks out loud. 

"So what you're tellin' me," she says, looking at Jake, "is making me think that there's not gonna be so much high-tech security as there is gonna be lackeys with big ol' guns." She glances at you, then back to Jake. "That's where you two are gonna come in. You'll get them out of the way while I get us in, and if we're lucky, they'll have a similar layout to their other facility." 

She pauses, collecting her thoughts, then leans back into her seat. "I think they'll probs have, like, a filing room somewhere. Places like this gotta have at least one filing room. It's the law or somethin'. That's where we'll go to grab any info they've got, but I'm also gonna try and get into one of their computers, see if I can find Miss Jade's file there." 

"Though, hold up. _You_ said," she says, pointing one finger at you, "that Jake's buddy Jane had seen Jade's file." You nod slowly, and she grins slightly. "Well, can't she just send us the file? It'd save us a busload of trouble."

Jake lights up, saying, "Yes, that's a great idea!" He fishes his phone out of his pocket, saying, "I'll ask Jane now."

A few minutes pass and then Jake turns slightly to face Roxy. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have a Pesterchum account, would you?" She grins and nods and he says, "Splendid! Here, add me, and then I'll make a group chat so that we can all talk to Jane."

golgothasTerror [GT] began a group chat!  
>>> timaeusTestified [TT] was added to the chat!  
>>> tipsyGnostalgic [TG] was added to the chat!  
>>> gutsyGumshoe [GG] was added to the chat!

GT: Right! Now everyones here and we can get this show rolling.  
GT: Jane this is dirk and roxy.  
TG: heeeeyyyy  
TT: Sup.  
GG: Hello!  
GG: So, Jake, what was it you wanted?  
GT: Do you still have jades file?  
GG: Yes, I do.  
GT: Would you be so kind as to send it to us?  
GG: Well, sure. Why do you want it, though?  
TG: were lazy nd dont wanna get it ourselves  
GG: I'm not sure I follow.  
TT: We're about to break into the facility Jade was held at. Scope it out, check for clues, that sort of thing.  
GG: That sounds... somewhat illegal.  
TT: It probably is.  
TG: but if we do everythin the legal way it wont be as fun  
TG: plus if we break in i can show off my MAD SKILLZ  
GG: I - Well, I can't say I condone this.  
GG: But given everything that's happened, I can't say I condemn it, either!  
GG: I'll send you the file in just a moment, let me find it.

gutsyGumshoe [GG] is sending File #03451. Accept file?  
golgothasTerror [GT] has accepted the file.  
timaeusTestified [TT] has accepted the file.  
tipsyGnostalgic [TG] has accepted the file. 

GT: Fantastic. Thank you so much jane!  
GG: You're welcome. :B  
GG: Do you need anything else while I'm here?  
TT: You wouldn't happen to have any insider info on the facility, would you?  
GG: I can't say I do. I've never been to this particular one myself.  
GG: However, I can say that it's fairly old.  
GG: Unless something's changed in the last year or so, this facility should only have the most basic equipment. We don't really do much with the older places.  
GG: It should have a working lab, though, if Jade was.. Well.  
TG: u got anythin on the security system?  
GG: Again, it's an old facility. It shouldn't be too advanced, though I'd imagine the security would be tighter around the lab itself. That aside, we prefer using people to machines.  
TG: sounds good i can work with that  
GT: Alright! That should be all.  
GT: Thanks again jane!  
GG: You're welcome! Let me know if you need anything else, or if you find Jade!

>>> gutsyGumshoe [GG] has left the chat!

GT: Is there anything else to talk about before we head out?  
TT: Jake, we're in the same vehicle.  
GT: Oh. Well that is true.  
GT: Whoops.  
TG: lol jakey its k

golgothasTerror [GT] has ended the group chat.

You half-smile at Jake, who reddens as he closes the chat and puts his phone back in his pocket. He glances up at you, then laughs, and Roxy grins at him before saying, "Well! Let's get goin' then!"

You pass Jake one of the now-empty bags your food came in, saying, "Put your trash in here," before you drive out of the parking lot and out towards the street, still grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me serious writer's block. I don't know why. However, it is here, and it has Color. So many colors. The colors are my favorite part, tbh.
> 
> Roxy's job description is "gets into places she shouldn't be/extreme hacks". Dirk's is "fucks shit up", as he said, and Dave's is almost exactly the same. Rose's is "will pick your brain so far apart you'll need to set up a reliable transportation system just to function. all aboard the train of thought", while Nepeta's is "do not piss off. do send to rob people blind". No one knows who writes all the job descriptions.
> 
> Flip's is not a real place, though I do wish it was, because after writing that portion I got really hungry for burgers.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What better way to spend the day than exploring a facility where people are routinely changed into mutated beings without their consent and for no obvious purpose?

You pull up to a nondescript, blocky rectangular building a few minutes later. It's gray and large with a few large trucks parked outside. The front door is similarly gray and large, but with two guys standing off to one side. They pay no attention to you, opting instead to laugh and point at something on one of their phones. You glance back at Roxy before asking, "Do you want to drive around, see if we can find a side entrance?" 

She nods and you slowly drive past the building, stopping when Roxy taps your shoulder. "I see lights," she says, when you pull over. "I think there's a side door over there." You take your keys out of the ignition and pocket them, stepping out of the car. 

For once in her life, Roxy doesn't slam the door behind her, closing it slowly instead before walking over to you. Jake follows her and you glance between them, then start walking towards the lights Roxy spotted. 

The lights are old and flickering, one on either side of an unguarded gray door. Roxy takes the lead from there, walking towards it purposefully and reaching into her bag as she walks. She pulls out a smaller bag, holding it in one hand as she approaches the door. From the smaller bag, she pulls on a pair of gloves, gingerly touching the doorknob and giving it an experimental twist. When the door doesn't budge, she crouches down and examines the lock in the middle of the knob, nodding to herself and humming as she fusses with her bag and then with the lock. 

As she works, you turn, watching the sides of the building in case someone heads towards the three of you. Jake takes a few steps until he stands next to you and you glance over at him. One of his hands is on a pistol and the other one taps nervously against his leg. 

"You okay, Jake?"

He looks startled for a second, then quickly schools his face into a more neutral expression. "What? Oh, yes. I’m just dandy." He laughs, a little nervously, then adds, "I’m just wondering what will happen if we're caught."

You frown, then shrug. "We won't be. If something does happen, we'll be able to handle it." He looks over at you and you say, a little softer, "We'll be okay." He nods shakily and smiles slightly, then turns towards Roxy.

"Yeeesssss," she's saying, "fuck to the yeah, I'm the best. Best is me." You grin and walk towards her and the now-open door, stepping past Roxy as she puts her tools away. 

"Great," you say, "now all we need is to figure out where we are in this mess of a building." 

Jake follows you through the door and Roxy closes it behind herself, leaving it unlocked as she joins you in what looks to be a dimly lit hallway. She glances to either side and then looks at you, raising and eyebrow and shrugging. "No clue."

"I..." Jake takes a hesitant step to the right, peering down the hall. "This seems somewhat familiar." He sounds uncertain, then takes a few more steps and nods. "At any rate, this is as good a place as any to start. Onwards!" 

The three of you walk down the hallway slowly and silently, turning corners until you find yourselves in the entrance to a large room. You rest your hand on the hilt of your sword, taking a step into the room, and then beckon Roxy and Jake to follow you inside. 

The room has a long table covered in papers and boxes and very old, worn-out looking computer on one wall. The other has a variety of screens and whiteboards, all scribbled upon in various colors. You spot a red that reminds you faintly of Dave and bite your lip before walking over to it and examining what's written. 

"Dirk," Roxy calls, softly, and you look back at her. "I'm gonna check the computer. You gonna check that out?" You nod and she turns to Jake, handing him a pair of gloves that she uncovered from her bag and telling him to take a look at the boxes. 

As you turn back to the whiteboards, the scribbling turns into words and equations. You frown, trying to figure out where it begins and ends, when a bright patch of green near one side catches your attention. It's a list, you think, but you can't figure out what for. 

#30015 - sample 2, 187 con - n/a  
~~#22918 - sample 46, 8 con~~  
#00722 - sample 65, 0 con - n/a  
#00723 - sample 65.1, 0 con - n/a  
#88290 - sample 23, 4 con  
#04398 - sample 71, 0 con - n/a  
~~#09633 - sample 68, 1 con~~

There's one more number, at the bottom of the list, in a brighter green than the rest - added recently, you guess.

#03451 - sample 2.63, n/a

You frown at the list, then dig through your pockets for your phone so that you can take a picture of it. You glance at your phone's screen to make sure the picture isn't blurry or illegible, then the number at the bottom catches your eye. #03451 - wasn't that the number of the file Jane had sent you? _Jade's_ file?

You quickly pull up Pesterchum and sure enough, there's the file Jane sent you. You open it and right at the top of the page, #03451 is written in bold black ink. That's too much of a coincidence. But, as for the rest - wait.

From your Pesterchum downloads, you head back to the main app and hover over Jane's chumhandle. Hopefully, she'll be available, and hopefully she'll have what you need. 

timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG]

TT: Hey. Are you there?  
GG: Oh! Hello. Yes, I am.  
GG: You're... Dirk, right?  
TT: Yeah, that's me.  
TT: I have a question.  
TT: Do you have access to all the mutant's files?  
GG: Yes, I do. Why, do you need another one?  
TT: Not quite.  
TT: We're in the facility right now, in some room. I don't really know what it is. But there's a bunch of numbers written on this whiteboard, and one of them is the number on Jade's file.  
GG: Do you think...?  
TT: I don't know. Here, I'll send you a picture of them. Can you see if they match up with files you have?  
GG: Of course!

timaeusTestified [TT] is sending 0201938.png. Accept file?  
gutsyGumshoe [GG] has accepted the file.

GG: I'll let you know if I come back with anything.  
TT: Great. Thanks, Jane.  
GG: No problem!  
GG: ... Say, Dirk.  
TT: Yeah?  
GG: I... I didn’t really get a chance to ask him earlier, and I know I only just met you, and this might seem like an odd thing to ask.  
GG: But... is Jake okay?  
TT: Define okay.  
GG: Oh, dear. That doesn't sound good.  
TT: He's okay, generally speaking.  
TT: One of his wings is broken, but it's almost done healing. He should be getting the splint off soon, but he's gonna be earthbound for a while.  
GG: Oh my.  
GG: What happened?  
TT: It's a long story. And my fault.  
GG: Is there a short version?  
TT: Sure.  
TT: I was given his file by the company I work for so that I could find him and kill him. That's kind of my job.  
TT: So I found him and we fought and I was going to kill him but I didn't.  
TT: I brought him home and the rest is history.  
TT: You'll be seeing that in the history books someday. Word for word, those exact sentences. Kids'll have to do papers on what those words mean.  
GG: ... I'm not sure I follow.  
GG: You were hired to kill Jake?  
TT: That's the long and short of it.  
TT: But that's also not all of the story.  
TT: It's a very long, complicated, touching tale about Jake looking for his cousin and me doing my job and then rethinking my entire life. My existence. The very core of my being.  
TT: Take your pick, any of those work.  
TT: In all seriousness though, I regret that I ever hurt him.  
GG: I see.  
GG: I... I think I believe you.  
GG: If Jake hasn’t seen fit to remove himself from your presence, then you can't be as bad as this story makes you sound.  
GG: I am somewhat shocked that you would do such a thing, though I suppose I don't know you nearly well enough to start making assumptions about you!  
GG: I'm also worried about this company you work for and the fact that they had Jake's file.  
TT: It definitely was not my brightest moment.  
TT: As for the company, I can talk to you about what we do later, though I might not be able to get into as much detail as you'd like.  
TT: I signed a contract that puts a bit of a block on what I can and can't say to people not in the company.  
TT: But at this point I don't think I really care. I'm starting to think about quitting, though it's not nearly as easy and putting in a two weeks notice.  
GG: Yes, that might be a good idea.  
GG: For now, though, I'll look for those files.  
GG: Try to stay safe, all three of you, will you?  
TT: Sure.  
TT: Cross my heart and hope to die. Safe as houses over here.  
GG: Hoo hoo!  
GG: All right. I will let you know what I come up with!  
GG: Will you let me know what you three find there?  
TT: Will do.  
TT: I'll message you when we're done.  
GG: Sounds like a plan!

gutsyGumshoe [GG] ceased pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

You put your phone back in your pocket, then move on to the rest of the board. It's not nearly as interesting as the list - you see what looks like some recipes for various baked goods and someone's grocery list. The same bright green isn't used again. 

Once you've finished investigating the board, you walk over to where Roxy is still sitting at the computer. "Already in?" you ask, startling her. 

"Wha- oh. Yeah, it was still on. I just jiggled the mouse and wham-o hallelujah, no need to do anything more than snoop." She grins as you laugh, then says, "There's nothing too great here, at least, not that I've found. I'm making copies of all the files that look interesting and saving them here," she points to a flash drive, "so that we can go through them later. Did you find anything good?"

"I don't know yet." She raises an eyebrow and you continue, saying, "There's a list of numbers on the board over there and one of the numbers matched up with the one on Jade's file. I sent the numbers to Jane, she's gonna see if anything matches up with what she's got." 

"Mm. Okay, that sounds good." 

"Hopefully we'll get something from that." Roxy nods at you vaguely, clearly not paying attention anymore, and you stand still for a moment before walking over to Jake, who's gingerly picking through a box. You glance down at the papers - more cake recipes, it looks like - before meeting Jake's eyes as he looks up at you. 

"You know," he says, with a slight grin, "when we first broke into this place, I imagined there would be more action sequences and less paperwork." You laugh and his grin widens before he points to a pile of papers on his right that you hadn't noticed. "If you'd like to take a look at what's in these - I picked out the ones that looked like they could be useful, but to be quite honest, I'm not sure what I’m looking for."

You move to shuffle through the papers, noting a few places where the same green ink as before is written. You glance back towards the board, then look a little closer at the page. You think it's the same handwriting, but you can't be sure. It's the same sort of information, at least - the green ink seems to be used only for file numbers. There's a stack of papers with long lists of numbers, all handwritten in green ink, and you flip through them. 

"Do you think they'd notice if we took some of their things?" you mumble, mostly to yourself. 

"Hm? Pardon?" 

You glance up at Jake, who's looking at you curiously. "Nothing. Just wondering if we can get away with taking some of this stuff." 

"Well - maybe. These boxes didn't look like they'd been moved around recently. What are you thinking of taking?"

You move your hand so that the papers flap a little. "The numbers here are files, from what I know. And there's a lot of them. There's a couple more on the board over there - including Jade's, actually. I've asked Jane to take a look at the others and see what she can find. But there's..." you glance down at the papers, "there's a lot more here."

Jake nods slowly, then shrugs. "Well, I say go for it," he says, turning back to his box and continuing to look through it. 

The three of you don't spend too much longer in the room. Once you've stuffed the papers inside Roxy's bag (since she was the only one who thought to bring something of the sort), she announces that she's got all that she's gonna get and that unless Jake's itching to keep looking, she'd like to check out the rest of the building. 

You leave the room the way you came in, backtracking until you reach the door you came in through. You pass it, following the other hallway, pausing as you hear a couple voices. 

Roxy looks at you and you nod, pulling your sword an inch or so out of its sheath, and slowly you creep down the hallway and towards a room at the end. The voices fade away and you hear the sound of footsteps retreating before you're able to make out what they're saying. Frowning, you turn back to Roxy and Jake and beckon them with one hand before you take a few steps further and peer around the corner of the hall. 

The room on the other side is fairly empty, with one corner of the room cut off from the rest with large transparent walls. A few chairs are scattered around a large metal table and another sits by a set of cabinets, secured with a large shiny lock. There's a door at the other side of room and a matching one that leads into the walled off corner and another hallway off to one side.

"That's probably where the voices went," you whisper, and Roxy nods, then moves towards the cabinets, already reaching for her bag. 

You glance at Jake, then ask, "Does any of this look familiar?"

He's biting his lip, looking vaguely uncomfortable, and he shakes his head slowly. "Not… Well, not exactly. There was a similar room in the facility I went to, but it was unused. I never asked them what the room was for and they never brought it up." He shivers slightly, then adds, "I can't say this room gives me a great feeling."

You nod, turning back towards the room, and you take a few steps inside. The floor by your feet is linoleum and clean; you can see your reflection if you tilt your head just right. When you continue walking so that you're outside the walled-off cell, though, the floor gets steadily dirtier. If you weren't looking at it yourself, you'd think that this area was in a completely different building, not several feet away from the cleaner portions of this room. 

Now that you're closer, you're able to see that there are various... objects?... inside the cell. A pile of rags that looks similar to the piles of laundry that were in your room - you'd hazard to say they'd been slept on recently - sits next to a panel on the wall with several small black buttons. There are bloodstains on the walls and on the floor, faded and brown, but still visible. 

"That's… kinda odd," you mumble, crouching down to get a better look at one of the stains nearest you. Why would only part of this room be clean? If nothing else, you'd think that bloodstains were pretty high up on the 'To-Be-Cleaned' list. Maybe the janitor got lazy. 

You turn your head to see what Jake and Roxy are up to when something in the corner of your eye moves. You quickly turn back to stare into the cell and watch as the pile of rags shifts and two gleaming yellow-green eyes snap open and stare right at you. 

The eyes stay locked on your face, watching you, and slowly you lean back from the cell wall. "Hey, Jake?" you call, softly. "Can you come over here?"

There's a slight tapping sound as he walks over to you, saying, "What - Oh my," as he approaches the cell. "That's... Is that a person?"

"I don't know," you say, watching the eyes warily as they snap to Jake and narrow. There's a low hissing noise and then the pile of rags _moves_ and something comes barreling out of it and straight towards Jake. 

The creature is suspiciously humanoid in the way you've come to associate with mutants, but you don't get a good look at it as it throws itself against the wall, level with Jake's face. Jake staggers back, one arm raised in defense, but the wall stands and the creature bounces off of it and circles tightly, eyes locked on Jake, though they shift to you when your hand moves to your sword. 

Now that it isn't coming straight at you in a blinding blur, you can see that you were right about the mutant bit. A long tail appears to be grafted to the creature's spine and you can see that it's nails are far longer and sharper than a normal human's. A row of small, sharp white teeth gleam as the creature grimaces at you, continuing to circle inside the cell.

"I'm not sure what it's doing," you say, slowly, your hand not leaving your sword, and in the reflection on the wall you can see Jake frown. 

"I think that your 'it' is actually a 'she'," he says, "and I... I think she's scared." He bends down slightly and peers at the creature, and it - she - pauses in her pacing to stare, one arm tucked around her middle.

"Scared of you?"

"Anyone, maybe." He pauses, then says, "While we were at the meeting, Rufioh told me a little about what happened to him and his father. He didn't go into much detail - I assume the memories are still painful for him - but he mentioned that for the longest time, he was unable to really be around people." 

He sighs and presses his hand to the glass and the three of you sit in a sort of silence, warily watching each other. You can hear Roxy messing with the lock on the cabinets still and you're not surprised that she didn't come over to investigate what's going on. Once she gets her hands on something, it usually takes up her full attention. 

Jake interrupts your thoughts, saying, "She looks familiar, don't you think?"

You glance at him, then turn to look at the girl-creature in the cell. She does look a little familiar; she has wild, curly dark brown hair that goes down to her mid-back, though it's tangled and dirty. Her face is heart-shaped, but her mouth, nose, and eyes all seem changed to be more feline than human. She's far more of a mutant than Jake or Rufioh are, and - 

"Oh," you say, as it dawns on you. You lean in a little closer and raise your voice so that she can better hear you, then say, "You're Meulin, aren't you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo.  
> So.  
> This chapter was Not Happening and really did not want to be written. I'd like to think that I managed it okay, but I know that I'll go back and reread this and want to rewrite the entire thing, so I'm going to hold off judgement.
> 
> On top of that, I've got marching season and school starting up again in just a few days, so updates may take a bit longer than usual! Maybe not so much for the next chapter or two - with the now-added Meulin, everything is going to get somewhat more interesting and I can't wait to start writing that. Next chapter will definitely be fun :]


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breaking and entering and leaving with a flourish. Or a bang. Perhaps both? Perhaps neither.

Meulin - if that's who she is - turns to you and stares, unblinking, as if she's trying to figure you out. "Are you Meulin?" you say again, and her gaze brightens slightly. 

You look over at Jake and say, "I think this is her. Do you think we should let Nepet-" You're cut off by a sharp hissing sound and when you look back at Meulin, her tail's straight and her eyes are wide. "Nepeta?" you repeat, watching Meulin closely.

Meulin nods and stares at you, then slowly raises her hands to chest level and moves them in a purposeful way that you... don't understand. You frown at her and she repeats the motions, slower, and you shake your head. 

"Sorry," you say, "I'm don't know what you're trying to tell us." 

Meulin's face twitches and she narrows her eyes, shifting slightly until she's sitting fully, tail moving slowly back and forth behind her and her hands moving rapidly. She punctuates her motions with a flicking-out movement near her face and looks up towards the ceiling, seemingly frustrated as her tail begins to move in a more agitated fashion. 

Jake nudges you with his elbow and says, "I'm going to see if Roxy needs any help and fill her in. Figure she'd like to know that her coworker's long-lost sister has been found." You laugh once, more a sharp burst of air than anything, and Jake offers you a slight smile and adds, "Then we can figure out what to do." You nod and he stands up, then leaves you and Meulin to stare at each other with barriers of language and glass in front of you. 

You say nothing for a few minutes and the only sounds are Meulin's tail brushing against the floor and a faint whispering from Jake and Roxy. Something about this entire situation seems... off, you think, leaning your face on your hand. Mr. Nitram had said that Nepeta's sister, Meulin, was taken and mutated and probably still at the facility. You're inclined to believe that that much is true - the family resemblance, once you'd realized it, was quite striking, and Meulin certainly reacted to her name. Why she wasn't speaking, you don't know, and you have a vague memory of someone a long time ago making the same sorts of movements. For the life of you, you can't remember who, or why, or - 

"Hey," says Roxy, and you jump. You glance up at her and she crouches down, hand resting on your shoulder, Jake trailing behind her. "Cabinet's a bust. Cleaning supplies." She looks at Meulin, who is still busy not paying attention to you, and then back at you and asks, in a softer voice, "What do we do?"

You shrug, just the barest lift of your shoulders, and Roxy's hand falls away. "I don't know. There's all of... what, two options? Leaving her here and taking her with us."

"Leaving her here seems a bit cruel," Jake says, sitting down next to you. When you look at him, he looks somewhat uncomfortable. "I... I just can't see how we _could_ leave her here. I certainly don't like the looks of this place, and knowing how long she's been here..." He trails off. 

"It would also alert the sciency people here that, hey! They aren't exactly so unknown now! That could lead to any number of things," says Roxy. She pauses, then raises a hand and, counting possible outcomes on her fingers, continues. "Nothing could happen. Or they could come looking for us - we might have been caught on some sort of tape, though that's kinda not so likely. This place screams of a no-camera-zone."

"They might assume Meulin escaped on her own," you say, and Roxy nods and raises another finger. "I'm with Jake on this, though. I don't think we can just leave her here." 

Roxy nods and looks towards the door leading into the cell. "Okay," she says. "How do you want to do this, then? Break in and sneak back out? Knock somebody out? Dunno if that'd be useful, but it'd be fun."

You laugh a little at that and Roxy flashes you a grin. "The easiest way's probably gonna be through the door," you gesture with a wave of your hand to the set of doors that you assume lead in and out of the cell, "and then back out the way we came."

"Righto." Roxy does a two-finger salute and straightens up, heading towards the door on your side of the cell, bag in hand. 

As she reaches the door, Jake clears his throat loudly and sits up a little straighter, getting Meulin's attention. "Um, Miss Meulin," he says, hesitantly, "I have a couple quick questions?"

She nods once and makes a quick up-down-up-down motion with one fisted hand. "Okay. Well. First off - you understand English. Well, that's not actually a question. Is… is what you're doing with your hands there also a language?"

Another up-down and a nod. "I see. Well, I'm not... entirely sure what language that would be. I'm going to stick to English for now, then, if that's all right." He pauses, then says, "You've been here for a while, haven't you? Have you.. Have you seen any other mutants here?" 

When she nods again, Jake leans forward even further. "Have you seen a girl? She'd be, ah, recent. Long hair, dark skin, big glasses. Looks like me - she's my cousin."

Meulin nods, then taps one hand against her forehead and points to her left. She pauses, then points again and makes a decisive motion while shaking her head. 

"You... know her? Or, well, you've seen her?" Nod. "Is she still here?" Head shake. "Do you have any idea where she is?" Head shake. 

Jake deflates a little and sighs. "Well, at least we know for sure she was here." As if on cue, the door inside Meulin's cell opens wide and Roxy pokes her head through.

Meulin jumps, then spins around to stare at Roxy, who grins a little and beckons her forwards. "Took a while, but c'mon! Let's get outta here before somebody comes by." Her voice sounds oddly muted from the thick wall in front of you - if you weren't watching her, you wouldn't think it was Roxy speaking. 

In a fast, dark-colored blur, Meulin rushes past Roxy and emerges through the other open door. Without warning, she leaps at you and Jake, crushing you in what you think is a hug. 

For a few awkward seconds, no one moves, but then Jake's laughing and wrapping one arm around Meulin and saying, "You're very welcome!" She pulls back and grins at him - which is, frankly, unsettling, with her sharp white teeth glinting in the bright light - and then lets go of the both you, allowing you to stand. 

You do so, brushing off your jeans and glancing around the room. Jake's standing up, too, and he and Meulin are grinning at each other while Roxy closes up the doors. 

"Okay," she says, once she's back, "that's that. Everything's good here, so - y'all wanna head out?"

You nod, saying, "Yeah. Let's go." You turn, then pause, and glance down at Meulin, who's still crouched on the ground. When she meets your eyes, she tilts her head in a questioning fashion and you shake your head and beckon her to follow. 

It's short work to get back to the door you originally came in through, but as you reach for the doorknob you pause. Jake, standing just behind you, takes a step forwards and opens his mouth to say something but you quickly shake your head. He frowns, looking at you curiously as you lean forward to press your ear to the door. 

"…I coulda sworn there was somebody s'posed to be here," comes a voice from the other side. "Think they went inside?"

"How could they? Door's locked." A pause and the sounds of shuffling feet, and the voice gets closer to the door. "Might wanna check the schedules, see who's gonna get chewed out for leavin' their post. Hey, pass me the bucket, will you? And the ladder. Can't quite reach this light." 

You lean back from the door and groan, then turn to the others. "Janitors," you whisper. "Cleaning the lights. They just got here - don't know how long it'll take them to finish." With a wry smile, you add, "Apparently we got lucky. There was supposed to be a guard at the door." 

Roxy grins. "I'm the luckiest gal in existence, Dirk. No way did some lousy guard stand a chance when Ro-lal's on your team." 

"Your luck appears to have run out," Jake says, glancing at the door as if it'll burst open any second. "Do we wait for them to leave?"

"My truck's just outside," you say, slowly. "This is the easiest way to get to it - and the only way that wasn't guarded. If they're only cleaning the lights, then I'd think they wouldn't be too long..."

A sudden noise from outside catches your attention and you hurriedly press your ear back to the door. The voices are further away, but there's a new one - louder, and getting closer. You pull back slightly and see Jake leaning in, hurriedly whispering, "What do we do?"

You bite your lip, then glance between your little group and the door. "I... it could be a guard, someone locking it, or someone coming to open it." You waste a few seconds staring at the door, then say, "If the door opens, we make a break for it."

Jake nods and one hand moves to his pistols. You look at Roxy and she flashes you a quick thumbs up, Meulin by her side, tail twitching and eyes narrowed. As Meulin catches your gaze she grins in that unsettling way she did earlier and you make the quick decision to never make it so that you and Meulin are on different sides. 

You lean back towards the door, listening for whatever you can make out. "....I'll le...... doesn't ma...r.. No, don't bother," says the voice, sounding irritated and closer than before. "No, I _don't_ know who was supposed to be here. Or why we have so many lights on the building exterior." An exasperated sigh and heavy footsteps stop directly outside the door, followed by the sound of what you assume to be jangling keys. "Step back. I'm going to unloc- well, that's strange." A pause, then a slow, "The door's been left unlocked. Was it either of you? I see. Oh, there's going to be hell to pay when _she_ hears of this... Right, time to see what's going on inside."

As the door swings open and out, the four of you quickly rush past whoever's standing outside, much to their surprise and a slight scream. You don't look back to see who it was, or if you know them; all that matters right now is getting _away_. 

You can hear the voice of the person who opened the door shouting something behind you but you don't stick around to hear what they're saying. The four of you, with Meulin lagging just slightly behind, hurry towards where the shadows are starting to hide your truck - in the time you were inside, the sun's already started to set - and with practiced ease you jump into the driver's seat and fumble for your keys. 

The other doors slam shut as you grab them and stick them in the ignition, slamming on the gas and driving away as fast as humanly possible. After years of working for a pretty-much-criminal organization, you would have thought you'd be better at getaways by now. You have let yourself down. You are a disappointment to yourself, for nowhere in your long list of accomplishments and skills lies anything remotely similar to "good at getting the fuck out of places". 

You're brought back to your senses as you make your way into a stretch of houses, slowing down and turning corners until you catch sight of Roxy's apartment building. You pull up to the lot outside and then into a parking space, then turn around to face Roxy and Meulin from where they sit in the back seat. 

"You two okay?"

Roxy nods. "As okay as ever." She glances at Meulin, then says, "Hey, Dirk, Jake? What exactly is the plan now that we've escaped?"

You look between her and Jake, then scratch your head. "I don't know. Didn't think that far ahead." 

Roxy rolls her eyes, then grins a little. "Well, I have an idea. Meulin's gotta have somewhere to stay, right? And I'm betting your place is already crowded between you and Jake. How about you," she turns to Meulin, "crash with me for a bit?" 

Meulin looks at Roxy, then nods. Her fist does the same up-down motions as before, but then she taps the thumb of her open hand to her chest and smiles.

"Great. That's settled!" Roxy's grin widens, then she glances back at you. "Well, you two should probably skedaddle. We'll just head on up to my -"

"Um, Rox," you say. "Meulin's tail? Might want to cover that. Questions might not be a great thing right now." 

"Ohhh." She glances at Meulin, then lights up and rummages in her bag. "Here, I think I - yeah, here. Just wrap this around your waist and try not to move your tail so much. That could work." Meulin nods and reaches for the jacket Roxy hands to her, then nods to you and Jake and opens the door, sliding off the seat and into the lot.

"My, Roxy," Jake says, laughing a little, "you must have everything we could ever need in that bag of yours!"

She laughs. "Hell yeah, dude." A quick pause, then she continues, straightening up in her seat a little and looking between you and Jake, finally resting her gaze on you." We're gonna head up to my place. I'll message you later, let you know what's going on, okay? Tell me if anything happens with you, too." She grins, then bites her lip and looks at Meulin. "And let Nepeta know, okay? I'm gonna try and see if there's any way to talk to Meulin besides yes/no questions, but Nepeta deserves to know that we got her sister out." 

You nod and say, "Sure. I'll do that. Stay safe you two, got it? I don't want to turn on the news and see your faces staring back at me while the announcer tells me you're missing." 

She laughs at this and opens the door, calling a goodbye to you and Jake as she hurries around to Meulin and grabs her hand. You watch the pair of them, Meulin looking a little uncertain about walking on two legs, as they disappear into the building, then let out a sigh. 

"Hey," says Jake, startling you. 

You look at him in surprise and he smiles at you, a little lopsidedly. "That was.. That was quite the adventure," he says, after a brief pause. "Aside from the very end, I quite enjoyed myself. Though, I assume it's time to head back?"

You nod and pull out of the parking lot. "Yeah. After our grand exit today, I'm not entirely sure what's gonna happen. I don't know if they caught our faces or my license plate or… well, anything. I have a sort-of plan in case of emergencies - and this definitely an emergency - and I'll probably spend a while putting that into play." You pause as you pull up to a red light, then add, "And I have to tell Nepeta."

Jake hums a sort of agreement and the rest of the ride is silent. You park in your usual spot, head back up to your apartment without hassle, and lock the door behind you before sinking into the couch. You sigh heavily, tired from your busy day, then fish your phone out from your pocket and stare at Pesterchum before frowning. 

"Something wrong?" Jake asks as he sits next to you. 

"I thought I had Nepeta's chumhandle. I don't. Or, for that matter, her phone number." You sigh again. 

Jake pulls his own phone out of his pocket, pushes a few buttons, and then hands it to you. You glance at it, then raise an eyebrow and he says, "There's Nepeta's chumhandle." 

"How'd you get it?" You ask, staring at him. 

"Tavros and Rufioh. Well, mainly Tavros - I told you he gave me his handle after the meeting? When he messaged me last, he added me to a group chat of sorts. It's him, his brother, Nepeta, and a few others - I'm not sure who's who, at the moment. But Nepeta is.." he leans over and points to an olive-colored text on his screen, "this one. ArsenicCatnip."

You nod and enter the handle into your Pesterchum. "Thanks, Jake," you say, and he smiles at you as you hand him back his phone. 

timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering arsenicCatnip [AC]

TT: Hey.  
AC: :33< who is this?  
TT: It's Dirk. I got your handle from Jake.  
AC: :33< oh! dirk hi!! *the kitty girl grins with both her mouths and rushes up to her furiend*  
TT: Do you do that often?  
AC: :33< *ac tilts her head and stares at the spiky-haired boy in confusion* do what?  
TT: That.  
AC: :33< oh  
AC: :33< you mean my rolepurrlaying?  
AC: :33< yes i do!  
AC: :33< though i can stop if its hard to understand  
TT: You don't have to if you don't want to.  
TT: But that's somewhat off-topic.  
TT: I have something to tell you.  
AC: :33< uh oh, that sounds bad  
TT: It's not bad.  
TT: It's actually pretty far from bad.  
TT: We went to the facility today, the one where Rufioh and Mr. Nitram were.  
TT: While we were there, we found a lot of numbers - I think they're numbers of test subjects, mutants like Jake or Rufioh. And there's a lot of them.  
TT: Jake has a friend who works for the facility, but in a different place. I sent the numbers to her and she's going to see what she can dig up.  
AC: :33< thats great! *ac does a small victory dance!*  
TT: That's not all.  
TT: We found Meulin.

A few minutes pass without response, but then Pesterchum lights up with a notification. 

AC: :00< dirk are you being serious right now?  
TT: Completely.  
TT: We even got her out. She's staying with Roxy for the time being.  
AC: :33< is she ok??  
TT: I'm not sure what happened with her, but she's not exactly in the best of shape. Not hurt, but… she's definitely mutated.  
TT: And she couldn't, or wouldn't talk, so I'm not sure if that's a side effect of the mutation.  
AC: :33< i  
AC: :33< no thats not a side effect  
AC: :33< meulins deaf  
AC: :33< did she sign to you??  
TT: She... I think. She was moving her hands a lot. Is that signing?  
TT: Though are you sure she's deaf? I spoke to her and she signed back - it seemed like she knew what I was saying.  
AC: :33< yes thats signing and yes shes deaf  
AC: :33< she looked at you whenefur you spoke, right?  
AC: :33< she was reading your lips. shes really good at that!  
TT: Ah, okay. That makes sense.  
AC: :33< yep! just…  
AC: :33< oh, gosh, dirk, this is really great!  
AC: :33< dirk you cannot even guess right now how i f33l  
AC: :33< its like my birthday thats what its like, like everythings going right and im so happy right now  
AC: :33< i cant believe shes still alive  
TT: Still... alive?  
TT: At the meeting, Rufioh seemed to say that she was only missing. Was that just hope?  
AC: :33< i guess it sorta was  
AC: :33< my mom and i have thought she was probably, well, gone for a while  
AC: :33< but even we didnt really want to admit that we thought that :((  
AC: :33< did you say shes with roxy?  
AC: :33< is she in on whats going on too?  
TT: Yeah. She helped us - Jake and I - get into the facility.  
AC: :33< oh i s33  
AC: :33< can you fill me in on what you did?  
TT: Sure.

You glance up from your screen and note that the TV's been turned on and Jake's comfortably seated, legs stretched out in front of him. "Hey," you say, and he looks over at you. 

"You told her, I take it?"

"Yeah." You smile slightly. "She's... excited. Overcome with emotion, probably, but it's a little difficult to tell through instant messaging." He laughs at that. 

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." He pauses, then says, "You said you had an emergency plan? What exactly needs to be done with that?"

You glance at your phone, where Nepeta is waiting, and shake your head with a slight smile. "Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO
> 
> Have I ever mentioned that I dislike writing dialogue? Because I do. Dialogue and I are not friends. For the matter, neither is Nepeta's typing style or her roleplaying - here's to hoping that that bit's good. Also it took me half an hour to get this up and running because Nepeta's text kept disappearing on me. Whoops.
> 
> In this AU, Meulin is very much Deaf and has been raised in a signing (albeit hearing) family. She is very good at reading lips and mainly uses this to get around with hearing people when she's without someone to act as an interpreter. On a related note, all the signs that I'm describing are very much real ASL - language classes, don't fail me now. In case you were wondering, some of the signs/phrases Meulin was using early on were: "do you know sign?", "[undescribed signing]. (that's) awful", "yes" (the up-down motions), and "I know her, but she's gone".


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Intoducing: Roxy's apartment!

You tell Nepeta about everything that's happened with the quiet lull of the TV show Jake's watching in the background. She wants to know every detail, constantly interrupting you to ask questions about how much you all know - what the facility was like, what Meulin looks like now, and what Jake's experience with this is. You don't mind. If anything happened to Dave and you'd only just found out that he's still alive, you know you'd be asking just as many questions as she is. 

It takes a few hours before Nepeta's satisfied that you've given her all the information you have. She makes you promise to set up a meeting so that she can see her sister again and you give her your word that it'll be soon, and then she says a quick goodbye and goes offline. 

You let out a sigh and drop your phone in your lap, lifting up your arms to stretch them over your head. You glance over at the windows in the kitchen and - yeah, it's nearly dark now. You won't be able to put the bulk of the emergency plan into action until morning, but you can certainly get it started now. 

You stand up and stretch again, then walk towards your bedroom door. You're about to enter when Jake calls over, "Are you hungry at all?"

You pause in the doorway and glance down at your stomach, then say "No" at the same instant your stomach makes a traitorously loud gurgle. Jake laughs at you and you frown at him, then say, "I've got to get my stuff ready for tomorrow. I can eat later." 

He stands up and shakes his head, pausing the TV. "Well, you can do that, sure. But how's about you get your things ready while I cook up some grub? Two birds with one stone." 

"More like two birds with two stones," you mutter, then shrug. "Yeah, sure. There's also take-out - I don't know if there's too much to cook in the kitchen."

He flashes you a grin and winks. "I'll think of something."

You enter your room feeling a little confused and with butterflies in your stomach.

The next hour goes by quickly. Your emergency plan is something you've never had to actually use, but you're nearly certain you know what to do. 90%. 87%, on a bad day, maybe. 96% if you really try. Maybe - no, you know what, you're going to stop now because you're starting to sound like AR.

The plan is pretty simple - you have instructions saved to your computer and with a few clicks they're pulled up and you're working. Most of it's actually stuff that you won't need - the backpack filled with emergency supplies will not make the cut and neither will the flamethrower. The spare license plates in your closet, though, as well as some pre-saved messages to send to Roxy (if she's unavailable, you have a second set meant for Sollux followed by a list of possible help if he's unwilling to help you) do, however. 

You get up and set the license plates on the table by your front door, then return to your room, glancing at Jake as you go. He's humming and stirring something in a large pot - it smells really good and you hear your stomach make another loud noise. You ignore the noise and set a reminder on your phone to switch out the license plates and move your truck to the back lot of the apartment building, where it won't be easily seen. 

Once it's been set, you set your phone down and move to your computer. The messages are in a file attached to your plan's instructions and you pull them up. They aren't anything special, just a basic idea of how to ask Roxy for help in any sticky situation you might find yourself in. After glancing through them, though, you're pretty sure you won't need them - Roxy's already a part of this. 

You're about to message her when you remember that she's got Meulin with her. You'll bet that, after what happened, Meulin's probably exhausted and Roxy, gallant host that she is, is going to go out of her way to make Meulin comfortable. She may not be able to help right now. So you exit out of the Pesterchum window and push your chair away from your desk, staring at the door and going over the plan to see if you'd missed anything. 

Not really, you decide, after some careful consideration. The rest of the plan hinges on keeping a low profile until you figure out what's going to happen, and you can't do that until you get Roxy's help. You'd... rather not get Sollux's help unless you're desperate. He's a great friend and a wonderful hacker with a web of connections that could get you the information you need, but he's also the one who helped you find Jake. He thinks Jake's dead, that you killed him, and as much as you're sure he'd eventually get over it? Yeah, you don't want to deal with that mess. 

As you finish that thought, Jake sticks his head in through your door. "Suppertime," he says, grinning, and you grin back before following him to the kitchen and taking a seat at the counter. 

"What is this?" you ask as he slides a bowl of.. soup? in front of you. It's brownish and has long strands of yellow floating around in it, as well as what looks like green onions. Where he got those from, you don't know, because you don't remember having them in the fridge.

"Egg drop soup," he says, taking a seat next to you. "First thing I learned how to cook, way back when I was learning my way around a kitchen." 

You nod and take your spoon, blowing on the soup before trying it, and then quickly take another. It's a little hot, but it's pretty good, and you glance over at Jake to find that he's grinning ear to ear. 

"You like it, then?"

"Damn straight. Please tell me you made more of this. Or can make more." 

He laughs and nods, lifting his spoon to point at a pot on the stove. "Plenty more in there and it's very easy to make." 

You groan and lay your head down on the counter, looking at him sideways. "You, my friend, are wonderful and amazing and brilliant. You need to stay here forever and just cook all day." 

"You'd get fat." 

"Worth it, bro, totally worth it." 

His grin widens, if that's even possible, and he looks away and starts to eat his own food. You lay on the counter for a few seconds longer, watching him, and your stomach twists. You bite your lip, then sit up and continue eating. 

He laughs when you get seconds and then gets seconds of his own, quickly followed by thirds. It's not the most filling of meals, but when you're done eating it Jake announces that he's far too full to do anything except sit and he collapses on the couch before rummaging in his bags. You shake your head as you wash the dishes - you can hear him muttering about the pros and cons of the movies in his bag.

"Hey, Dirk," he calls, just as you finish. "Would you mind putting this disc in the player?" 

"Lazy," you call back, turning to dry your hands. "Do it yourself."

"If you do it you can watch it with me." 

You pause and consider this. "Depends. What movie is it?"

"Labyrinth." You frown and he continues, saying, "It has child-stealing goblins and musical sequences."

You walk over to him and take the movie case, taking a look at the cover, and - "Hold up. Is this David Bowie?" Jake nods and you laugh, walking over to the TV to put the disc in the DVD player. "This'll be great." 

You join Jake on the couch and watch the movie, musical sequences interspersed with your wise-cracking jokes. You pretend you don't notice that Jake's hand creeps closer to your own where it sits on the couch and you pretend that yours doesn't do the same. Once the movie's done, you return to your room and stare at your computer screen, trying to decipher the feeling in your chest. 

TT: We have a problem.  
TT: "We"?  
TT: Okay, smartass. I have a problem.  
TT: What might this problem be?  
TT: I'm in love with a straight boy.  
TT: What happened to waiting until you knew he was or wasn't straight?  
TT: He can cook, when I look at him I feel the need to call for a fainting couch because I've got the vapors, and I nearly worked up the courage to hold the damn boy's hand.  
TT: That's what happened.  
TT: Just - fucking hell, AR, what the fuck do I do?  
TT: I'll start this with a simple 'why are you asking a computer program'.  
TT: That aside, you could simply ask him about his sexuality.  
TT: Oh, sure, that'll go over well.  
TT: "Hey, Jake. What's up? No, nothing. Hey, are you gay?"  
TT: That's not an odd way to start a conversation at all.  
TT: Dirk.  
TT: I don't know what else to tell you.  
TT: You could ask him or wait and see what happens.  
TT: There's not much you can do. At least, nothing that I can think of.  
TT: Great.

You push your chair away from the desk and forcefully stand up, pacing around your room before collapsing on your bed and staring up at the ceiling. 

Having crushes is hard. 

You stay that way throughout the night, staring at the ceiling and dozing off until your room starts to light up. When that happens, you drag yourself out of bed and pull on a jacket, grabbing your phone as you exit your room. No time like the present to get your mind off of things and to put the plan in action.

Jake's already up, which surprises you, and you pause in front of your doorway. He doesn't seem to notice you - instead, he's intently stretching out his arms and wings, going slowly and gently rubbing the broken wing. When he does look up you jump a little and then rub your arm as though you've been caught by mom for stealing cookies from the cookie jar. "Didn't think you'd be up," you say, to break the silence. 

"I didn’t sleep much last night, to tell the truth," he says, looking away from you and back at his wing as he continues to rub it. "Too much going on in the old noggin." He pauses and drops his hands to his lap, then looks back at you curiously. "Why are you up so early?"

"I'm gonna go switch out my license plates right now and move my truck to the back lot." You move past him and grab your keys and the plates, then look back at him. "You're welcome to come with if you want."

He grins ever-so-slightly and stands up, nodding and saying, "Sure. Just let me pull on some shoes and I'll be ready to go."

When the two of you reach the front door, you're very glad you brought a jacket. The sun's barely risen and the air's still full of morning chill, the kind that gets to your bones. You reach your truck quickly and grab a couple screwdrivers from the toolbox in the back, passing one to Jake, along with one of the new plates. 

"You know how to do this?" you ask, leaning against the side of the truck. 

"Er, I think. You just unscrew the old one and put the new one on, correct?" 

"You've got it." You stand up and gesture to the front of the truck, saying, "You take care of that one, I'll do this one." He nods and walks away. 

It doesn't take too long for you to finish your plate, and you put away the screwdriver and pull your phone out of your pocket to pass the time. You glance at the time - it's 7:18, so Roxy could be up - and open Pesterchum, going to Roxy's handle and starting a conversation. 

timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG]

TT: Hey, Roxy, you up yet?

You wait a few minutes going through your emails before you get a message back. 

TG: i am now  
TG: took for-ev-er to fall asleep last night  
TG: i am SO TIRED  
TT: Maybe take a nap later, then?  
TG: plannin on it  
TG: whyre you up so early?  
TT: I'm switching out the plates on my truck, since I don’t know if the people at the facility saw them yesterday or not.  
TT: Better safe than sorry.  
TT: I also wanted to know if you got Meulin settled in okay.  
TG: yeah shes gr8  
TG: i didnt really figure out how to talk 2 her? but yes/no stuff seems to be workin so imma leave it at that for now  
TG: did u tell nepeta?  
TT: I did.  
TT: She's... excited, and amazed that Meulin's still alive. And eager to see her.  
TG: aww well i don’t wanna be the one keepin them apart!  
TG: do u wanna get over here? invite nepeta too and we can have a reunion party or somethin  
TG: maybe not a party that might get a bit loud but u know what i mean  
TT: The loudness would only bother your neighbors. And us, minus Meulin.  
TG: minus meulin?  
TT: Yeah. She's deaf.  
TT: Nepeta told me last night, when I was telling her what had happened.  
TG: ohhhhh now see u shoulda started w/ that because now all sorts of things are makin sense  
TT: My bad.  
TG: lol its k  
TG: but yeah! get urselves over here and well have a party  
TT: Will do.  
TT: I'll let Nepeta know and Jake and I will be over in a few.  
TG: cya in a bit, dirk!  
TT: See ya, Roxy.

timaeusTestified [TT] has ceased pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG]

Jake chooses this moment to walk over and you glance up at him. "Great timing," you say. "Done?" 

"That I am. And now I'm ready to get inside - it's a bit chilly out here." He shivers and hands you the screwdriver and you grin at him. 

"Well, Roxy just invited us over to a reunion party between Meulin and Nepeta. Does that work for you?"

"Yeah, that works. Ah, here." He hands you the old plate and you stick it and the other plate in the back of the truck, then close up the back. "I call shotgun," he adds, with a grin and a wink, hurrying over to the passenger's door. You unlock the truck so he can get in and walk over to the driver's side, phone still out. You get in and quickly start a new chat, this time with Nepeta.

timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering arsenicCatnip [AC]

TT: Mornin'.  
AC: hiya, dirk!  
AC: whats up?  
TT: I have an invitation to a party for you.  
TT: Roxy invited you, along with me and Jake, over to her place so that you can see Meulin.  
AC: oh!!  
AC: right now?  
TT: Yeah, if that works for you.  
AC: it does! im gonna have to get a ride, though.  
AC: hm.  
AC: oh! i know who to ask.  
TT: You can come?  
AC: yep!! *ac does a little dance*  
TT: Great. Do you know where Roxy lives?  
AC: nope.  
TT: She lives near the center of town, in the building across from Casey's Bar, apartment 312.  
AC: gotcha.  
AC: okay, ill be there in just a bit!  
AC: see you there, dirk, and thanks again!!  
TT: No problem.

timaeusTestified [TT] has ceased pestering arsenicCatnip [AC]

"Right," you say, putting your phone away and glancing over at Jake. "Nepeta now knows where to go, she'll meet us there." 

"Sounds good to me," Jake says, and he grins at you as you start the car and pull out of the lot.

You arrive at Roxy's place for the second time in two days, though this time, you actually get out of the truck and enter the apartment building. Her apartment's on one of the upper floors and from it, you can see nearly the entire city; every time you're over here, you make a point to sit in the window and watch the world outside move. You doubt you'll get a chance to do that today, though.

You reach Roxy's apartment and knock twice so that Roxy knows that it's you. She lets you in with a grin and closes the door quietly behind you - something she only started to do after a very loud visit from some neighbors who kept getting woken up by Roxy's daily 2 AM door slamming as she returned home. You enter, pleased to see that her apartment hasn't changed much in the few months it's been since you haven't been over here. 

Her apartment isn't much different from yours, except for the fact that it's slightly bigger. You'd think it'd be the other way around; you're paid the same but Roxy's more likely to spend money going out and doing things than you are. 

The living room you step into connects to a kitchen with a bedroom off to one side and a separate room off to the other - last you knew, Roxy was debating whether or not to transform it into a gaming room or not. You glance at her as she walks to that door and, seeing your questioning look, she says, "Meulin's in here. I should probably let her know you're here." She pauses, door on the doorknob, then asks, "Did you tell Nepeta to come over already?"

You nod. "Yeah. She should be here in a bit, I think. She said something about getting a ride from someone, so it might be Nepeta and a plus-one." Roxy nods, then slips into the spare room.

You drop down on Roxy's couch and relax into it, watching Jake as he curiously looks around the apartment. He doesn't get long to do so, though, because right after that there's a knocking on the front door. Jake glances at you and you shrug, saying, "Nepeta, maybe?" 

He nods and goes to the door, peering out of the tiny hole to see who's outside. He grins a little and opens the door, revealing Nepeta and a tall, lanky dude with quite a lot of hair. You're seriously awed by how much hair this guy has - and once you get over his hair, you're impressed by the rest of him. He has small holes around his lips - two have studs in them, but the rest are empty - and face paint that makes him look a bit like a very scary mime. He's also wearing combat boots, a leather jacket, and brightest, most purple pants you've ever seen. 

First impressions are everything, you think to yourself, and this guy's sure as hell giving a great one. 

You look away from the tall dude and towards Nepeta as she launches herself at Jake and wraps him in a bear hug, talking excitedly. You catch the words "Meulin", "thank you", and "oh-my-god" several times and smile as he hugs her back. 

She pulls away from the hug after a few seconds more, then glances around and spots you on the couch. "Hey, Dirk!" She looks about to say something else - probably thanking you again when she pauses. "Oh! I totally forgot to introduce you," Nepeta glances back at the tall dude, who's standing by the door watching the hugging and thanking with a calm gaze. She turns to you and Jake, who has joined you on the couch, and says, "This is Kurloz. He's Meulin's boyfriend." 

You nod and say, "Sup," as Jake says "Hello!" Kurloz nods back and... signs? He's doing the same sorts of motions Meulin was, and Nepeta said that what she was doing is signing. His signing is different: where Meulin's was fluid and looked vaguely like a dancer's movements, Kurloz's signing is strong and decisive. His long, bony fingers accentuate his movements as he slides one hand across the other and then brings his hands together with his index fingers sticking up. 

"Nice to meet you," Nepeta says, from where she stands next to Kurloz. You glance over and she adds, "I'll be interpreting for him." She pauses and turns to him, signing quickly and with raised eyebrows - she points at him and then at you and Jake a couple times and Kurloz shrugs and taps his finger to his nose before flicking it out. 

Turning back to you, she says, "Kurloz has this thing called selective mutism. Sometimes he can't speak, especially in new situations. So he signs instead!" Kurloz nods and Nepeta continues. "Um, so. Meulin's here, right?"

You nod and smile a little. "Yeah. She's in that room," you point behind you, "with Roxy right now. They'll probably be out in a bit."

Nepeta smiles and sinks down on the chair adjacent to the couch, sighing. "This is kinda surreal!" she says, laughing a little. 

Kurloz waves his hand a little, catching Nepeta's attention, and quickly signs something. "We both thought she was gone," Nepeta says, watching Kurloz - oddly enough, looking at his face, and not his hands - "and now that... well, now that I know she's here, I'm - " she pauses and signs something quickly and Kurloz raises an eyebrow and nods. "I'm real motherfucking grateful to you guys, for lettin' us know she's still kicking and getting her out," she finishes, looking sideways at Kurloz. 

"No problem," you say, and then turn slightly as you hear a door opening. 

Roxy sticks her head out of the open door and grins at you guys, saying, "Hey! Nepeta, hi!" She pauses and looks curiously at Kurloz, then at Nepeta again. "Who's your friend?"

"His name's Kurloz," she says, and Kurloz repeats the motions he made earlier, which Nepeta translates to "Nice to meet you." 

Roxy nods and glances back into the room, then steps out and beckons (you assume it's Meulin) to follow her. Roxy sits down on the couch next to Jake, and Meulin cautiously peeks out of the room. 

When she sees Kurloz and Nepeta, her eyes light up and she races out to meet them. Nepeta stands up and collides with her sister, the two of them hugging each other tightly. Kurloz takes a few steps towards them and you look away, feeling a little like you're intruding on a private moment. 

Jake catches your eye and smiles at you, then nods towards the three people hugging and excitedly signing back and forth. "This is something fantastic," he says, quietly. "Like a movie scene."

You laugh and shrug. "Yeah, it really is." You glance back at them, then look at Jake, and meet Roxy's eyes over his shoulder. "This has been a great day, for them - and for us, too, I suppose, since we helped make it happen." Roxy grins at you and Jake nods, then stands up to say something to Nepeta, who's left Kurloz and Meulin to do the signing equivalent of talking softly to one another. 

Just after he leaves, Roxy slides over so that she's sitting right next to you and says, "So. I got a weird message last night from a certain friend of ours." 

You frown. "Jane?"

She laughs and shakes her head. "Nope. Worse. AR." You groan and drop your head into your hands and she continues. "He seems to think that you're in lo-o-ove." 

You shift your fingers so that you can look at her warily and sigh. "He's wrong. I'm not in love," you grumble. You see Jake glancing over at you and say, hurriedly, "Can we talk about this later? I'll text you or something."

"I'll hold you to that," she says with a grin, and you groan again. This is what you get for going to AR with woes about your love life: nosy best friends who'll grill you for every detail. You sigh again and shake your head slightly. Could be worse, you guess; he could have told Jake. 

And hey, maybe he did you a favor. Talking to a real person about real person things is probably better than talking to AR. You might even thank him for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember the bit where Dirk remarks on how Nepeta is watching Kurloz's face and not his hands as he signs? There's a reason for watching the face and not the hands! In ASL, all the grammar is on the face - question, yes/no, topicalization, emphasis (sorta), all sorts of grammar. Plus, facial expressions help give your signs a tone of voice they otherwise wouldn't have because it's, um, not voiced. Once you get used to watching the face and not the hands (and even I slip up on this sometimes, especially if I'm having trouble reading someone's fingerspelling), it's very easy to let your peripheral vision do all the work in recognizing signs while you watch the facial grammar.
> 
> (unrelated note: SORRY FOR THIS BEING LATER THAN USUAL. MY MARCHING BAND IS GOING TO SEMIFINALS THIS SATURDAY AND THE DIRECTOR'S HAVING US TO EXTRA PRACTICES THAT TAKE UP A LOT OF MY TIME. however the 21st is our last tournament, and that's only if we make it to champs, so! updates should resume to their usual one-a-month scheduling soon after that)


	14. Chapter 14

"Well," says Roxy, when Jake looks back towards Nepeta, "if you don't want to talk about your love life, how about something less personal?" You glance at her and she adds, "The people at the facility."

You lean back into the couch and shrug. "What's there to talk about?"

"Do you think they'll find you, for one."

"Well…" you trail off. "I don't know. Whether or not they saw my truck remains to be seen. I mean, I changed the plates, but there aren't a lot of bright orange trucks in the city. I'm somewhat of an eyesore." 

"You can say that again," she laughs, and you pause to wrinkle your nose at her.

"I'm planning on just leaving it in the back lot of the building and seeing what happens."

"Think that'll work?"

"Well, only one way to find out." 

She laughs again and this time Jake looks over again, then says something to Nepeta before coming over to stand by you two on the couch. Roxy glances up as he does so and waves a little to him. He grins at her, then looks at you and says, "They all seem very happy to be reunited." 

You look towards Kurloz and Meulin, who've been joined by Nepeta, and watch their flurry of signs. You briefly consider how they manage not to hit each other with their arms - they're moving quickly in a small space, you'd think that there'd be a bit more of that, but they manage not to - and then say, "Yeah. I'm glad that we were able to find her." You sigh, then add, "I wish we could've found your cousin there, though."

Jake shrugs and looks away. "Not much that could have happened there, mate. At least it looks like she managed to get out." You nod even though he can't see you. "We'll just have to keep looking," he adds, then glances at you. "Jane told me she'll try to keep an eye on what that facility does, but I doubt they'll be focused on her now that we've shown up and blown their plans to bits." 

You and Roxy laugh at this. "Dunno if we blew anything to bits, bro," you say, "but you're probably right."

The three of you chat for a little while, until the sun reaches the high point of the sky. When it does, you and Jake make your excuses to Roxy and return to your truck. You leave a bit more hastily than Jake does, after a few instances of Roxy leaning in close and calling you 'loverboy' in a mocking tone accompanied by excessive winking. As you walk out the door, she promises to keep you informed of any major changes to the Meulin scene and also to text you thousands of pick-up lines.

When you reach the truck, you breathe a sigh of relief, set your phone on silent, pull your keys out of your pocket, and suggest that you and Jake go out for lunch. 

"That sounds splendid," Jake says, with an amused look in his eye, "but I thought you were going to race home and have some of that soup. Honestly, I'll be offended if you don't, after all your flattery last night!"

You laugh and say, "There's always dinner, and right now I'm kinda craving some time spent out of apartments." He grins and you ask, "What sounds good to you?"

"Anything at all. Hm. Wait, maybe a sandwich, actually?"

You nod and get into the truck. "I know a place. They've got the best sandwiches - I'm a sucker for a good panini."

He grins at you and says, "I'll have to remember that," and you try to ignore the feeling of a blush spreading across your cheeks. 

Twenty minutes later, the two of you exit a small corner shop with paninis in hand. You take a seat at the small metal tables outside, the ones that have too-big umbrellas, and eat amidst small talk. You don't pay attention to how your hand strays close to his or, for that matter, how his does the same, until your hands are just barely touching. 

You sit like that, almost to the point of something, when the moment is broken Jake frowning and looking curiously at his phone. 

"Ah, Dirk?" he says, looking up at you through his eyelashes with a grin. "Roxy seems to be in quite the tizzy! She can't seem to reach you."

"My phone's on silent," you say, and you pull your own phone out your pocket. As soon as you turn it on, you can't help but laugh; Roxy's blown up your phone with Pesterchum messages. 

tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

TG: hey dirk  
TG: my broest of bros  
TG: gueeeessssss what  
TG: you arent guessing  
TG: u there?  
TG: dirk  
TG: dirkdirkdirkdirkdirkdkdkeikf fuck  
TG: dirk i am pulling a mom move here ng waggin my finger at u  
TG: u better answer me young man  
TG: ????????

You grin at your phone when you reach the most recent message, then type out your response.

TT: Hey.  
TG: DIRK  
TG: WHERE THE FUCK WERE U  
TT: Eating a panini.  
TG: that is a terrible excuse but good 4 u eatin food  
TG: food is good  
TG: eat more food  
TT: You trying to fatten me up, Ro-lal?  
TG: damn straight  
TG: u need some meat on ur bones  
TG: you are a skinnyass twig and how are u supposed to snag any hot boys if u cant grow intwo a beeayoutiful tree  
TT: Twigs to trees?  
TT: That's some kind of magic right there.  
TG: hell yeah  
TG: but okay thats enough chitchat  
TG: big news is a-comin ur way  
TT: Lay it on me. I'm ready.  
TG: kurloz and nep took meulin back home with them  
TG: so in the interests of celebration and also because why the fuck not  
TG: i called up casey and they said it was all gold for a party 2nite at the bar  
TT: A celebratory "Meulin-is-free" party?  
TG: maybe even a "dirk-got-laid" party if u know what i mean  
TG: ;) ;)  
TT: I can assure you that it won't be.  
TG: wha? are u givin up on getting some hot jake booty?  
TT: I - wow. No. No, I am not.  
TT: But I really doubt it'll happen tonight, let alone anytime soon.  
TG: hmm  
TG: idk bout that dude when u got rolal on ur side all sorts of magykkcal shit starts happenin  
TT: Right.  
TT: Back to the party, though.  
TT: What time?  
TG: 5-whenvr  
TG: caseyll probs kick us out when they close up shop so 1 maybe?  
TT: Great.  
TT: Let me ask Jake.

"Hey," you say, "you feel up to a party?"

"A party?" Jake scratches behind his ear, then asks, "What kind of party?"

"A 'Meulin-went-home' party. Kurloz and Nepeta brought her back and Roxy's gonna grab some people and get them together at Casey's." Seeing his blank expression, you helpfully add, "That's the bar across from Roxy's apartment."

"I see. Yeah, why not? Could be fun." He grins and you return it, then message Roxy back. 

TT: It's a yes from us.  
TG: yooooo  
TG: thisll be gr8  
TG: gr9 even  
TT: Of course. Your parties are never anything less.  
TG: awwww u flatter me  
TG: right well imma leave u to ur paninis  
TG: have fun & use protection!  
TG: luv u dirk <3

tipsyGnostalgic [TG] has ceased pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

She's offline before you can message her back. 

You sigh instead and click your phone off, then stand and ask Jake if he wants to walk around for a bit before you two head over to Casey's for the party. He smiles at you and you swear you feel your insides melt and then the two of you are off, walking around the side streets of the city.

Four hours and three soft tacos later, you and Jake find yourselves outside of Casey's Bar. You point out Roxy's apartment and he nods, then laughs as you explain how Roxy and Casey came to be friends (it involved Roxy nearly passing out on the bar, you remember that part quite vividly). You also mention how Roxy always makes sure to go to Casey's, since it's so close and when Roxy drinks she really goes all out. 

When you and Jake enter the bar, you're not surprised to see that Roxy's already grabbed a couple tables and smashed them together by the stage at the far end of the room, right next to the stairs. You are, however, surprised to see Sollux right next to her, helping her move chairs to the new mega-table. 

"Oh, shit," you mutter, waving half-heartedly when Roxy notices you and beckons you over with an excited smile. 

"Hm?" Jake glances at you as you walk. "Something wrong?"

"That guy, with the dumb haircut, that's Sollux." You sigh. "He's the one who helped me find you to, ah, well. For all he knows, you're dead." 

Jake laughs, then squeezes your shoulder in a comforting way. "Well, maybe he won't realize. If nothing else, telling him could be quite a laugh!" 

You look at him and shrug, smiling a little. You think you would have said something more but you're suddenly standing at the table and Roxy is hurrying around to give you and Jake each a quick hug. She lingers with you, whispering something wholly indecent that you have no wish to repeat, and then moves on to Jake, leaving you at Sollux's mercy. 

He glances between you and Jake, who - once Roxy's done - leaves to get a drink, then wiggles his eyebrows. "I thought you said you didn't get laid," he says, with a wicked look at you, "but -"

You punch Sollux in the arm, not gently, and he squawks in indignation. "I didn't," you say, and - with a sudden burst of inspiration, a wish to keep Sollux from realizing who Jake is, and a mischievous grin - you lean in and add, "And I won't if you say anything." 

You hear a faint "ooooh" from behind you and your head drops. "Heard that, did you, Rox?" 

"Sure did!" She giggles and leans into your side. "Now what's this I hear about getting laid?"

"Nothing," you say, and Sollux and Roxy both laugh as you grumble and push Roxy away. "Can't a guy make a joke without everyone takin' him seriously?"

"Nope," they chorus, the bastards, and you sigh. 

Roxy looks like she's about to say something else, but you hurriedly say, "Who else is coming?"

She pauses and looks at her hands, raising one finger for each name as she lists them. "I invited Kurloz, since Nepeta's getting Meulin settled in right now, and he said he might show up with a bro of his, so it's either him or him and a plus-one. Hmm... Rose, but she said she was busy. Calliope should be coming, and Jake said he invited some dude named Tavros on my behalf." She pauses, then adds, "I also invited Terezi, and Dave and his roommate - you know, the one who works the weird jobs and keeps skulls in her car? What's her name. Arabia. Arcadia. Arby's. Something like that." She waves her hand in the air as though doing so will help the name come to her.

"Aradia?"

She snaps her fingers. "That's the one!" She grins, then adds, "I also said they could invite people if they wanted, so who knows! We may find some new pals tonight." 

You sigh and say, "I can't believe you invited Dave." 

Her only response is a widened grin and then she's off, joining Jake at the bar to grab some drinks. As you watch her, you notice Jake chatting with the bartender, some girl in her early 20s with brightly dyed hair that she keeps brushing out of her eyes to give him the best look at her - to be fair, blinding - smile. 

You stare at them, then tear your gaze away to find Sollux still standing in front of you, one eyebrow raised. "What?" you say, a bit harsher than you intend. 

"Jealous?" He asks, with a faint look of amusement. 

"I have nothing to be jealous about." His amusement changes for curiosity and you sigh again. "He's... he's just a friend. Sure, I'm crushing on him, but I don't even know if he's gay." 

"Have you tried asking?"

"You sound like AR." 

He laughs and you scowl. "But seriously," he says, "why haven't you asked him?"

"It's... complicated." He gives you a look and you raise your hands, turning slightly to lean against the tables. "I... Kinda. Well." 

"Did you meet him off a Craigslist ad?" He laughs. "At an orgy, maybe? Ooh, I know, he fell into your arms and stole your wallet _and_ your heart." 

"Fuck you, none of that. I only tried to kill him," you grumble, and Sollux immediately sobers up. "Ah, shit. Well. That cat's outta the bag, huh?" 

"What do you mean, tried to kill him? You sound like some shitty villain."

"I am a shitty villain," you say, failing to laugh at your own joke. "He was a job. I was s'posed to catch him and kill him, y'know, routine shit. Then cops show up and I decide it's better to get outta there, I end up bringing him with me, and next thing I know the two of us are sitting on my couch eating pizza and I'm helping him find his cousin." 

Okay, so you're not being completely honest with Sollux. You definitely do not want to tell him that it was a job he helped with (the last time that happened, he refused to help you again for a solid five months) and you definitely do not want to talk to him about the fact that he and his cousin are mutants. You wonder, briefly, if Sollux will guess what job this was anyways. 

"Wow," is all he says, snapping you out of your thoughts. "That's rough." 

You nod and he awkwardly pats your shoulder, then sighs and says, "Look, I'm really no good at comforting shit. Just… ask the boy out. Or at least find out how gay he is." 

"How gay he is? Shouldn't I find if it he's gay at all?"

"With the way he keeps glancing over here and not at that chick's boobs, I'm gonna say he's not straight," Sollux says, laughing softly. 

"Stop talking about girl's boobs," you say, punching him in the arm and managing a grin of your own. 

Time passes and the bar starts to fill up with people you do and do not know. Dave and Aradia show up, Terezi in tow, and you and your bro fist bump for a solid five minutes for a bet. For the record, you won, no matter what Dave says. Kurloz brings Mituna, Sollux's twin brother (much to Sollux's annoyance and surprise), who acts as an interpreter and resident daredevil. Last you saw of him, he was chugging beer like no tomorrow. You're not sure how he's supposed to interpret when he's drunk, but Kurloz seems to be the one encouraging him, so you don't say anything.

The bar's full by the time the sun starts to set and a local band takes the stage. They're loud and everyone's cheering does nothing to help the noise, nor the fact that drunk people enjoy cheering a lot more than their sober counterparts. You don't drink anything tonight - you designated yourself to be a driver, mostly so that you could avoid any drunken confessions (you've done that before. It does not end well. You don't know why every book and show has drunken confessions of love but they suck ass.) - but Jake has a few beers, and after a while you feel his hand on your arm. 

"It's a little loud in here!" He shouts to be heard over the noise. "Is there anyplace quieter?"

You nod and beckon him to follow, grabbing your can of Coke and heading up the stairs. At the top, you go out onto a balcony of sorts, with a few tables and a lone college student working behind the minibar up top. 

"Ah," Jake sighs, walking towards the railing and leaning over it, "this is much better. All that noise was starting to give me a bit of a headache."

You nod and take a quick drink. "Yeah, Casey's can get pretty loud. Depends on who's playing, I guess, but Casey likes the loud stuff." 

"Casey's the owner, I take it?"

"Yep. They're friends with Roxy and always up for our little parties here."

Jake laughs and looks over at you. "You have many parties, then?"

You shake your head. "Nah. Roxy likes to get friends together and the bar's a good place to do so, but it's rare that enough people can get together on the same night. Tonight's just a marvelous coincidence on all fronts."

He laughs again and turns so that he's still leaning on the railing, but now he's facing you. He doesn't say anything, but instead looks over your shoulder and smiles faintly when you hear a door open and close. You raise an eyebrow and he says, "Bartender left." 

You nod and he tilts his head upwards to stare at the night sky, with tall buildings lit up at the windows and the sound of cars rushing past. After a few seconds, you lean back against a stone planter, shifting slightly to avoid getting poked in the head by a stray leaf. You finish off your drink and set the empty can next to you, then look back to see Jake watching you. 

"What," you say, with a slight grin, "sky not interesting enough for you?"

He laughs and shakes his head. "Not nearly."

"I dunno, the sky has all sorts of cool shit in it. Stars, planets, planes. Helicopters. Flying birdmen." He laughs again, a little louder, and you feel a faint sense of accomplishment in making him laugh like this. 

"As true as that may be, you are more interesting than the sky, even at its finest." 

You feel a faint blush creeping up your cheeks and laugh, albeit a little shakily, and look past him to the buildings lining the street. You are... not sure what's happening.

When you look back, Jake's stood up a bit and is leaning towards you, staring again. You stare back, unsure of what to do, and after a minute the corners of his mouth twitch upwards and his head tilts to one side. "You know, Dirk," he says, thoughtfully, "I would like to kiss you."

With that, any thoughts you had immediately disappear and you're left to stare at him, wide-eyed. "You - what?"

"I would like to kiss you," he repeats, "very much so." 

"Oh," you say, and bite your lower lip. For a second, all's silent, and then you say, very quietly, "Oh. Okay." 

With that he truly smiles and takes a step towards you, lifting one hand to gently rest against the side of your face, and then suddenly, his lips are on yours. 

Neither of you moves at first, but then you kiss him back and you feel as though your heart's going to beat out of your chest. His hand stays on your cheek and the other goes to rest on your hip while yours go around him, pulling him close to you.

When you finally pull away, he looks at you with such a smile in his eye that you quickly kiss him again before asking, "How much have you had to drink tonight?"

He rubs the side of his face against his shoulder, thinking. "Three beers," he says, finally, "and some Sprite." 

You laugh a little and shake your head, then say, "Enough to get you drunk?" 

"Hm. Not very much at all, I'm afraid! I'm just the slightest bit tipsy. Enough to get rid of inhibitions." 

"Inhibitions, huh?" you mumble, then shake your head again. "Well, we should get back there." He looks at you curiously and you say, "Roxy's gonna get worried if she doesn't see us. That, and, well, if she sees us up here alone, she'll... start getting ideas." 

He grins. "Her ideas are right, though."

You push him away and roll your eyes with a grin. "Right. Save it for when you're sober." This is the point where you avoid him for the rest of the night and wait to see what he does in the morning, you tell yourself. You are not going to do something one of you might regret later. However, it's more accurate to say that this is the point where you grab his hand and the two of you walk back into the bar area, taking a seat at the table and sitting so close that your knees touch, because that is what actually happens. 

The next few hours pass in a blur. Jake doesn't let go of your hand and, you find, the band's actually pretty good. Dave talks to you at one point, and you remember something about promising to drop by to do... something. You'll have to ask later - you could barely hear him. 

Eventually, it's past midnight, and the band's done and everyone's paying and leaving. Roxy enlists your help to move the tables back into place (but not Jake's, because he made a timely retreat to the bathroom to get out of helping), but just as she asks you grab the chairs her phone rings. She's a little drunk, but as soon as she sees the number, she grows worried and hurries to the back of the bar to take the call. You decide to ignore this for now and get everything put back into place so that when Roxy returns, looking a little lost, she doesn't have to do anything. 

"Something wrong?" you ask, pushing in the last chair. 

"What?" she says. "Oh. No, it's nothing. I just need to get home." 

You raise an eyebrow and she laughs a little shakily. "It's nothing! If you're so worried, see me to my doorstep, sir chivalry."

"As you wish, milady," you say, with a deep bow. She giggles and hooks her arm in yours and you notice that her hands are shaking, but before you can say anything more Jake reappears. 

"We all set to go, then?" he asks. 

"Yeah. We'll be dropping off Roxy first, though." He nods and the three of you leave the bar with loud goodbyes to Casey, who stands behind the bar and waves you off with a smile. 

Seeing Roxy home doesn't take long, and you wait for her to text you that she's in her apartment before you pull out of the parking lot and drive home. 

As you drive home, Jake's hand makes its way to your knee and you try not to look at him. If you do, you'll want to kiss him again and make use of his 'lack of inhibitions', and you don't want to mess anything up between you two. If he really does feel... something... for you, then you don't want it to come out when he's drunk. You'll be wooed like a proper lady, dammit, you insist on being wooed. 

Your plan goes at least partly to shit, though, when as you're locking your truck, Jake comes up behind you and hugs you from behind, his lips finding your neck. You stiffen in his arms and try to push him away - and eventually he relents enough for you to turn around. 

"Not now," you say, softly, and he looks at you in confusion. "You're drunk - no, don't try to deny it, you drank a lot more when we got back to the bar. Drunk people do weird things. I mean," you swallow, then say, all in a rush, "I do like you. Like a lot. And I do want to do... whatever you seem to want to do. Don't get me wrong. But I am not gonna do it when you're just as likely to pass out in the elevator as you are to fuck me."

He laughs and, before you can stop him, presses a chaste kiss to your lips. "Well," he says, pulling away, "then we should hurry up to the point where that can happen." 

You laugh and grab his hand, leading him to the front door of your building, and say, "I guess we'll have to."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, personal update first: I managed to become a whole year older in the time between this and last chapter and my marching band went to champs! We stayed at 6th, but we're happy with that.
> 
> Annnnddd fic stuff: Now things are starting to get fun. I am So Ready to keep writing and that bar scene? yeah dude just fuck me up because that's the most I've written in one day since I started writing this fic. Hopefully we'll see more of the bar - it's actually more important than just the place Roxy goes to drink with her friends!
> 
> (for the record, "Casey's Bar" is not an intentional homestuck reference, ahaha. that's just a bonus. Casey's is a bar in montana that my dad helped work on. they have good burgers and a cool layout. also that town in montana is just a+ would go there again.)


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **[Dave]** i keep hearing awed noises coming from aradias room so theyre either checking out her half of the bone collection or shes watching aradia try to juggle using only her feet again [9:36]  
>  **[Dave]** both are worthy of awed noises [9:36]  
> 

When you reach your apartment, Jake starts to wobble. This continues for a few minutes as you unlock the door and usher him inside, and then his wobbling finally results in him crashing onto your couch and promptly falling asleep. You drop your keys in the bowl by the door and glance at him, laughing a little under your breath. 

"Not that drunk, he said," you mutter. "What a fuckin' lie." You're tempted to go the Roxy or Dave route and draw on his face, but what little conscience you have stops you and instead you grab a couple water bottles and place one on the coffee table. Next to it, you put a couple painkillers, and then you head into your room. For a few minutes longer, everything seems fine. 

Then, you start wondering if, maybe, you managed to fuck things up. You told yourself you weren't going to do anything until you knew if he was straight or not. Okay, so maybe you'd already managed to screw that bit up, but - what if he was just drunk? What if he just wanted to see where this could go, what if he was just looking for someone to be a quick fuck, what if - 

You cut yourself off and drop your head into your hands, rubbing at your eyes. You sit there for a while, breathing steadily (in-two-three, out-two-three) until all your thoughts slowly ebb away, leaving your mind blank and yourself calmer. Once you feel like that's under control, you sit up straight and pointedly look at the wall over your computer. 

There's a couple different ways that it could go once Jake wakes up, you decide. He could remember nothing, or he could remember what happened. If he does remember, then he could either be okay with it or not okay. If he isn't okay, then he'll probably want to leave. 

If he remembers nothing, you think, that'd be okay. Maybe he does feel.. Some way about you, and remembering nothing would, uh, help? No, that doesn't seem right. You frown at the wall. It'd be the easiest option, though. 

You let out a shaky breath and laugh a little, running a hand through your hair. No, the easiest option would have been to kill him when you first met him. You're glad you didn't, you really are. There is certainly something to be said about not taking the easiest option whenever it's available. Something. Probably. 

Your hand falls down to rub at your eyes and you push back your chair, going to lie down on your bed. This is a problem for tomorrow. You are going to sleep and you are going to wake up and feel better. At least, you hope so. 

Instead, you toss and turn throughout the night and end up sleeping very little, if at all. When the first rays of sunlight start coming in through your window, you sigh and get up, changing out of the clothes you slept in and exchanging them for a nearly identical pair of jeans and a shirt. 

You exit your room a little warily, glancing at Jake as you do so. He's still asleep, but he's shifted a little - the jacket he's wearing over his wings is twisted a little and you can see feathers sticking out from under it. You're tempted to go smooth them out but - nope. You are going to leave him alone. You are going to make coffee and go back to your room. 

Or, well, you start making coffee but the sound of the coffee maker wakes him up. 

"Dirk?" he asks, sounding drowsy. "That you?"

You stare at the coffee maker. "Yeah." 

"I - shit." You hear some more muffled swearing and lift your eyes to look at him and he's pulling at the jacket, glaring at what bits of his wing he can see in the space between his side and his arm. 

One side of your mouth lifts in a grin and you ask, "Having trouble?"

He frowns at you and you shrug, then gesture to the bottle and painkillers on the table. "That's for you, by the way." He glances at it and nods his thanks, then goes back to getting the jacket off without somehow messing up his feathers. 

You look away and finish making the coffee, pouring two cups and setting one on the table before going back towards your room. You think you can feel his eyes on you as you leave but you don't look at him to see if he is. The door closes behind you and you let out a sigh of relief, but a feeling of worry tightens in your stomach. You don't want to talk about what happened but you know until you do, you're going to feel like shit about it. 

You pause and take a sip of your coffee. Well, he at least doesn't seem upset about what happened. Maybe he doesn't remember. You take another sip and move to your computer, finishing your coffee as you turn it on. You go through your email and then turn to Pesterchum, where Roxy is the only one online. You hesitate, replaying parts of last night - her hands shaking, the mysterious phone call - and then click on her username. 

timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG]

TT: Sup.

You minimize the window after a few minutes and open a few documents with the intention of doing - well, anything, actually - and then the Pesterchum window pulses. 

TG: oh hey  
TG: srry i didnt answer, was eating  
TT: It's fine.  
TG: b4 i forget - did jakey like the party?  
TT: Yeah, I think he did.  
TG: oh good  
TG: i was kinda worried he wouldnt  
TG: i mean first time meetin ur freidnoes  
TG: that doesnt look like a word  
TT: It's not.  
TG: ok lemme try again  
TG: *first time meetin ur friend-os does get a lil worrymakin u kno  
TT: Worrymaking?  
TT: Yeah, I guess it does.  
TT: Speaking of worrymaking.  
TT: Are you okay?  
TT: You seemed a little off last night.

You see " **TG is typing…** " flash across the screen a few times before Roxy finally responds. 

TG: yeah im fine  
TG: somethin came up thats all  
TG: but now that u mention it  
TG: i do hafta go fly up to ol ny 2morrrow so could u  
TG: idk  
TG: get my mail nd water my plants  
TT: I know you don't have any plants, but do you get mail?  
TG: no  
TG: but thats what u ask ur friends to do when you go away right  
TT: If you get mail, then, yes.   
TT: I will go get all the mail you do and do not get.  
TG: glad 2 hear it  
TT: Though, what is 'ol ny'?  
TG: new york  
TG: ya know  
TG: where im from  
TT: Oh, I get it now. Okay.

You pause before asking her if she's going up there for a particular reason. Your fingers hover over the keys and you reread parts of your messages, trying to figure out if something's really wrong or if Roxy's just... out of it today. She said she's fine, but she did seem upset after last night's phone call. Though it does seem like she doesn't want to talk about it. 

You groan once and smack your face against the keyboard, then glare at the screen where a mash of letters has appeared in your type box. You don't want to worry about this. Well, you do and you don't. She's your friend and you want to be there for her, but you really don’t feel like adding more problems to your plate will do you any good. And since she's not talking about it, you decide to leave her be.

TT: Well, have fun in New York, then. Bring me back some snow or something.  
TT: They get snow there, right?  
TG: yep we do  
TG: but im warnin ya now itll probs melt b4 u get it  
TT: Then I'll just refreeze it. My freezer is kind of empty right now, it could use something to do.  
TG: insert thumbs up emoji here  
TG: i gotta go now tho, roses comin over to help me pack  
TG: u take care of all that mail for me ya hear  
TT: Will do. See you when you get back, Roxy.  
TG: cya

tipsyGnostalgic [TG] has ceased pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

You lean back in your chair and frown at the screen, then sigh and lean forwards again. You close the chat window and watch as Roxy's chumhandle goes dark as she goes offline, then close Pesterchum and turn to your documents. 

The documents are nothing new and incredibly boring, so you close out of those too and pull your headset out of your desk drawer. If you don't want to work, you're going to play some games instead. And if, for some reason, you continue to be bored while playing games, then you're utterly fucked.

As you start up a new game of - shit, you didn’t even see which one you clicked - you pull your phone over to you and turn it on, surprised to see you have a couple unread texts. Opening the phone shows that they're all from Dave, which is even more surprising. 

**[Dave]** hey bro so i dunno if you remember anything from last night but i did ask you a thing [5:12]  
**[Dave]** and by ask i mean told and by a thing i mean a real fucking problem [5:13]  
**[Dave]** shits not good [5:13]  
**[Dave]** all the good that ever could have been in this shit is long gone [5:14]  
**[Dave]** so long - okay im gonna stop while im ahead [5:15]  
**[Dave]** look at me a lesson in self control [5:15]  
**[Dave]** right well that aside, i need you to text me back whenever you get the chance [5:17]  
**[Dave]** later bro [5:17]

You frown a little and absently start a new game - this looks like a shooter, which hopefully will set your mind at ease (nothing relieves tension and stress like good ol' fashioned shooting things), texting Dave back one-handedly. 

**[Di-stri]** Hey. Sorry I didn't respond, I was asleep. [8:28]  
**[Di-stri]** What's the problem? [8:29]

A few rounds of mindless killing pass and then your phone buzzes. You pause the game as you text, switching shooting what you think might be zombies with shooting words with your little bro.

**[Dave]** okay so problem might not be the most accurate [9:01]  
**[Dave]** shitstorm maybe, issue definitely, dilemma most probably [9:02]  
**[Dave]** but problem okay no now youre just going too far [9:02]  
**[Di-stri]** You called it a problem first, not me. [9:05]  
**[Dave]** touche [9:06]  
**[Dave]** heres the sitch [9:07]  
**[Di-stri]** Should I read all further texts with the Kim Possible theme song playing? [9:09]  
**[Dave]** of course do you really need to ask [9:11]  
**[Di-stri]** I suppose not. [9:13]  
**[Di-stri]** Lay it on me. [9:13]

Dave's quiet for a few minutes longer than you expect, but just as you're about to text him again and see what's up he responds.

**[Dave]** what exactly is one supposed to do when ones friend is in a massive amount of shit [9:21]  
**[Dave]** and one is unsure how to fix the shit because it is more shit than can reasonably be fixed [9:22]  
**[Dave]** its some pretty permanent shit right here [9:22]  
**[Di-stri]** Depends on the nature of the shit. [9:24]  
**[Di-stri]** Is there anything you actually can do? That wouldn't make the situation any more shitty than it is. [9:25]  
**[Dave]** yes its called asking my bro for help [9:26]  
**[Dave]** idk [9:26]  
**[Dave]** i mean i want to help but the best i can do is say here come in no dont worry about the carpet the carpet will be fine can i offer you a beverage [9:28]  
**[Dave]** aradia is also no help in this situation let me tell you [9:29]  
**[Dave]** she laughed at me when i collapsed on her floor to ask and then said that maybe i should just get rid of the problem [9:30]  
**[Dave]** but thats a bad idea cuz a the problem is my friend but also b the problem is so fucking big i cant even see the end of the rainbow over this hugeass problem [9:30]  
**[Di-stri]** Damn. [9:33]  
**[Di-stri]** That’s quite the problem you got there. [9:33]  
**[Di-stri]** Am I to take it that your friend is at your apartment right now? [9:34]  
**[Dave]** yeah shes hangin out with aradia [9:35]  
**[Dave]** i keep hearing awed noises coming from aradias room so theyre either checking out her half of the bone collection or shes watching aradia try to juggle using only her feet again [9:36]  
**[Dave]** both are worthy of awed noises [9:36]  
**[Di-stri]** So besides giving your friend a place to say, there's fuck-all you can do. [9:41]  
**[Di-stri]** How big a problem are we talking about for part b up there? [9:41]  
**[Dave]** depends [9:46]  
**[Dave]** here its on the small side [9:46]  
**[Dave]** altogether its huge [9:46]  
**[Di-stri]** Can you not get rid of the problem here? [9:47]  
**[Dave]** yes but then the rest of the problem would show up in a tizzy and demand to know where the problem that was here went and then itd just be bad [9:49]  
**[Di-stri]** Yeah, that's definitely not good. [9:51]  
**[Dave]** youre telling me [9:56]  
**[Dave]** bro you don’t even know the half of it but even with what you do you can tell its not good [9:57]  
**[Dave]** its Bad with a capital b and everything [9:57]  
**[Di-stri]** That much is clear. [9:59]  
**[Di-stri]** So what exactly do you want me to do? [9:59]  
**[Dave]** dispense brotherly wisdom [10:00]  
**[Di-stri]** My advice, huh. [10:03]  
**[Di-stri]** Keep your friend out of trouble and see what happens, I guess. Not much you can do, if the problem's as big as you're telling me it is. [10:04]  
**[Di-stri]** Of course, you could always deal with the smaller problem and then see what happens. [10:05]  
**[Di-stri]** You know I've got your back if anything starts to go south. [10:05]  
**[Dave]** what if things go north [10:07]  
**[Dave]** or southeast [10:07]  
**[Dave]** north-north-west maybe [10:08]  
**[Di-stri]** South's my limit. [10:10]  
**[Dave]** thats fair [10:11]  
**[Dave]** im gonna talk this out with aradia and my friend [10:11]  
**[Dave]** see what we can figure out [10:12]  
**[Dave]** but ill tell you what we do maybe youd be up to help? [10:13]  
**[Di-stri]** Of course. [10:15]  
**[Dave]** rad okay im gonna go find food later bro [10:16]  
**[Di-stri]** Later. [10:17]

You push your phone off to one side and get back to your game, blasting through some more rounds before your stomach starts to complain. Thinking back to last night, it's been… nearly twelve hours since you last ate. You frown and push your chair back so that you can get to the kitchen - many things a Strider can do without, sleep topping the list, but food? Now that's just crazy talk. 

You pause just before you reach for the doorknob, then shake your head as though it will shake your thoughts loose and swing the door open with a bit more force than is really necessary. You glance at Jake as you walk to the fridge and he meets your gaze, waving slightly from where he lays on the couch, doing something with his phone. You return the wave and pull the fridge door open, ducking behind it and rummaging around. There's - yeah, there's that soup he made. Egg drop? You think it's egg drop. 

"You want any soup?" you ask, closing the fridge and reaching up to grab bowls. 

"Is it the one I made a few days ago?"

"The one and only. You in?"

"Sure." 

You nod, although you don't know if he's looking at you, and pull out two bowls, which you fill with soup and then place one in the microwave. The unused soup (there isn't much, really - you'll have to ask him to make more) goes back in the fridge and you switch out the bowls, setting a spoon in the one that's already reheated and bringing it over to Jake. 

He glances up at you and grins, then sits up fully to take the soup out of your hands. He starts to eat as you wait in the kitchen for a few minutes more while your own reheats, then grab a spoon of your own. You're about to retreat to your room when Jake calls you over to the couch. 

"Hey, Dirk, can you... ah, eat out here? I'd like to talk to you, if that's okay."

You hesitate, then slowly walk over and perch on the arm of the couch, too-warm bowl of soup balanced on one hand. "What about?" you ask, slowly, picking up your spoon. 

"Last night." 

You nearly burn your tongue, but you nod and sigh a little. "How much do you remember?"

"All of it, unless I'm mistaken. We went to Casey's, hung out with Roxy and your friends, went outside for a bit, gave Roxy a ride home, and then I believe I fell asleep here."

"Yep." You don't speak for a moment longer, stalling with your soup, and then you ask, "Remember anything else?"

Now he pauses, looking at you, then at his soup, and finally resting his gaze on the TV across from him. "I remember kissing you."

You bite your lip and focus on your own soup. "Yep." 

It's quiet. You sip at your soup, avoiding looking at him, and finally he breaks the silence.

"Look, I... I was somewhat drunk. I'll admit that. But I do think that I... ah..." You finally look at him and he's awkwardly rubbing at the back of his neck. "I do think that I like you. In a way that's a bit too... friendly to be, well, friendly."

You raise one eyebrow and he glances at you. "Like-like, you mean," you say, a lot more calmly than you feel. The corners of your mouth twitch upwards before you can stop yourself and you add, "A schoolyard crush, even."

He frowns at you and you hold up your hands - or, well, hand, since one is still rather occupied with soup. "Yeah, no. I... well, let's see." You pause, then quickly, before you can think, say, "I think I like you too." 

It's quiet again, but this time you're looking at each other instead of at food or electronics. 

"Well," you say.

"Well," he says. 

You nod once, standing up quickly as you feel a bit of a blush creep up your cheeks. "Good talk. I'm gonna go… lie down. Or something." 

He watches you as you set your bowl down in the sink and retreat to your room, smiling a little as you close the door behind you. You smile a little as you crash onto your bed, burying your face in a pillow. 

So your crush, who was supposedly probably straight, remembered the drunken kiss and likes you back. 

You let out a breath and push the pillow down into your face and your head down onto the mattress. This is better than you could have hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter did not want to be written. I wrote it in three days and the only thing I that I managed to do was insert a bunch of Dave-rambling (plot important Dave-rambling, yes, but still) and get some more buildup for Roxy. And Jake and Dirk talking about Important Liking Things. Lots of important things managed to happen in this chapter. But I feel as though there should have been something more. I am, however, a little late for this update and as such this will do nicely. Any further plot-development and important details can wait until next chapter.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything was easier when all you did was kill things.
> 
> (this chapter is very blue, in a very literal sense.)

Now, you'd be perfectly happy just existing on your bed for a little while, pillow smushed in your face and butterflies doing their thing in your insides. The world, however, seems to have a different idea in mind. Your phone, which is inconveniently all the way on your desk, starts to buzz. Either you've got a call or someone who's triple- or quadruple-texted you. 

You push the pillow off your face and glare half-heartedly at the desk, then get up and fall into your chair. With a glance at your phone, you see the familiar wording of a Pesterchum notification, and you sigh. You left your game on, so you quickly exit that and open the Pesterchum window. 

gutsyGumshoe [GG] began pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

That's... a surprise. You pause before opening the chat with Jane to wonder what it is that Jane has to say to you. 

[GG] Hello, Dirk!  
[GG] How are you?  
[TT] ...Pretty damn good, actually.  
[TT] You?  
[GG] I'm fine, thanks.  
[TT] So what's up?  
[GG] I have some results from the files you asked me to look into.  
[GG] I'm not sure how useful the results will be, though.  
[TT] It's a start.  
[TT] What'd you find?  
[GG] Well, to start, it was written in a very basic way in the picture, as far as the facility goes. They're all files, though that much was fairly certain.  
[GG] A crossed-out file - #22918 and #09633 in the ones you sent - means that the experiment, or, well, mutant, is dead.  
[GG] The rest are either alive or unknown at this point.  
[TT] Experiment?  
[GG] We're rather scientific in regards to this sort of thing. It's... a way to distance ourselves from it.  
[GG] I don't oversee the process itself, but I do oversee those that do, and a variety other things that facilities do. Even up here in the employee hierarchy, we feel the need to keep ourselves separate from the process.  
[GG] Or at least, we prefer to. I know some of the workers that get very... into it.  
[TT] I see.  
[GG] Yes. Well. That's, well, off topic, actually. Back to the files!  
[GG] The file numbers themselves are randomized. They're not in any particular order.  
[GG] What gives a better idea of the order the mutants are, well, created in, is the sample numbers.  
[GG] We create mutants in batches with one sample formula, then edit the formula. The more numbers behind the decimal point, the more editing we did.  
[GG] The numbers followed by 'con' are confirmed kills. These are only ones that we've witnessed, mind, and most mutants... they're fine, but.  
[GG] Well, some flaws were still being worked out in the beginning, and several batches of violent mutants were created before we fixed the formula.  
[GG] Even now, we make sure we keep track, just to nip any potential problems with the formula in the bud.  
[TT] ... Jane, why do you keep track of kills?  
[TT] That sounds like something HQ would do, and - actually, I think we do actually do that.  
[GG] Hoo, boy.  
[GG] I'm starting to like HQ less and less!  
[TT] I'm with you on that one.  
[GG] As for why, it gives us a sense of how bad one particular sample is. More kills is much worse than less, in general and in testing!  
[TT] I see.  
[TT] What about the rest of the lingo?  
[GG] The 'n/a' bits are what we put for when a mutant is unavailable. Either they've gone missing or we've released them.  
[TT] Release them?  
[GG] Like with Jake. We see no reason to keep volunteers at the facilities unless something is starting to go wrong. We keep information on them, of course, for yearly check-ups to see what's going on with their mutations.  
[GG] But aside from that, there's very little contact between officially released mutants and the facilities.  
[TT] This sounds... a little more complicated than I thought it would be.  
[GG] It is. Complicated, I mean. We do like our complications here!  
[GG] But that's just how to understand how we write the files out. It's more formal in the databases, of course, but you found that on a board, and some of our workers can be rather lazy.  
[GG] As for the actual files you found, I do have some information on a few of them.  
[GG] The first one, #30015, was one of the very first mutants we created. He - he was one of our employees, but a very reluctant one.  
[GG] He got into several arguments about the funniest things. Hats, for one. He did not like the hats that came with the uniforms.  
[GG] But he was very eager to volunteer. When he did, there were some... adverse reactions.  
[GG] He has 187 confirmed kills, but those are only... Well. Okay.  
[GG] When the procedure was finished and he came to, he was calm for a little while. We don't know exactly what caused the reaction, but he then worked himself into a frenzy and systematically cut down every employee he could get his hands - well, paws - on.  
[GG] Following that, he escaped the facility - not without more bloodshed - and we haven't been able to find him since.  
[GG] He could be dead. Actually, we hope he's dead, because even we can't handle that kind of destruction.  
[GG] Assuming he's still alive, he most likely has many more kills than that. That's why it's "confirmed kills" and not "total kills".  
[TT] That's.  
[TT] That's not comforting.  
[GG] It really isn't, no.  
[GG] As for the others, Jade's sample is a much-edited version of the one he had.  
[GG] I highly doubt they would have given it to her if they didn't think they had fixed whatever went wrong with his formula, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.  
[GG] There are two samples on your list that are extremely close together, #00722 and #00723, which are samples 65 and 65.1 respectively.  
[GG] I'm not sure if someone was being funny with the numbers on their files, but the two appear to have been made right after each other.  
[GG] The only other noteworthy aspect about the files is that #88290 has appeared several times in my messages. Someone is frantically looking for this particular mutant.  
[TT] Has been for a couple days, maybe?  
[GG] I - yes, actually.  
[GG] Dirk, did you do something while you were in the facility?  
[GG] Something other than breaking and entering, I mean.

You pause, run your fingers through your hair, then slowly type out the next message.

[TT] We did many things other than breaking and entering.  
[TT] There was a lot of picture-taking. Some glove-wearing, some file-copying. The usual.  
[GG] I get the feeling you're not telling me something.  
[TT] You'd be correct.  
[TT] Any second now, a game show host is going to appear behind you with a ridiculously sized check and announce that you've won a million dollars.  
[GG] Dirk.  
[TT] Yeah. I know.  
[TT] It's not... bad. It's just kinda worse than just breaking in and getting out.  
[TT] At HQ, I know this girl.  
[GG] Very descriptive.  
[TT] Right? I should get an award for this shit.  
[TT] That's beside the point, of course.  
[TT] The girl is part of a... group? They have meetings. Jake and I went to one and she told me about how her sister was taken to the facility, turned into a cat mutant, and she didn't know what had happened to her after that.  
[TT] We get to the facility and end up finding her in this really disgusting looking cell, the picture tugs on our heartstrings, and we break her the fuck out of there.  
[TT] I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that she's probably #88290.  
[GG] I...  
[GG] Well.

There's a pause on her end and you glance back at your bed, wishing that you were still happily in post your-crush-likes-you-back bliss. 

[GG] That's worse than I had thought.  
[GG] I'm not making excuses for this, believe me, I'm not, but…  
[GG] It's never been anything like that here? Here being the one I work at, I mean.  
[GG] Here we've got beds and equipment, not… cells.  
[GG] Oh, my.  
[TT] If it makes you feel any better, the mutant girl - her name's Meulin - is back with her sister now. She and Meulin's boyfriend picked her up and took her home.  
[TT] We didn't find anyone else at the facility.  
[GG] It does help, yes.  
[GG] I'm glad you did.  
[GG] And here I was thinking that HQ was the one to be worried about.  
[TT] Turning people into mutants wasn't enough of a warning bell?  
[GG] They've always been volunteers. Here, at least.  
[GG] I... I think I'm going to need to think about all this.  
[GG] I hope some of this information was useful to you.  
[TT] It was.  
[GG] Oh, good.  
[GG] Well. I'm going to go get some fresh air. Tell Jake hello from me, will you?  
[TT] I will.  
[GG] Thank you. Goodbye, Dirk.  
[TT] Later.

gutsyGumshoe [GG] has ceased pestering timaeusTestified [TT]

You slowly stand up and move back to your bed, phone in hand, feeling a little confused. On one hand, you think Jane should have realized this by now. On the other, you do understand what she's going through, in a weird sort of way. If you hadn't not-killed Jake, you'd still be out killing mutants and none the wiser. 

You turn sideways and frown at the wall. Everything was easier when all you did was kill things. 

Instead of doing something productive, like, say, texting Roxy or Dave to see how they're holding up, or talking to Jake because man oh man do you need to talk to him and see what's going on with everything. One little chat doesn't even begin to cover what you think needs to be talked about, but, then again, you... aren't sure what needs to be talked about. And instead of doing any of that, you lie on your side and watch the sunlight move along the wall in between naps. 

Partway through one such nap the light in your room changes suddenly, going from post-sunset-almost-darkness to the-birds-are-screaming-wake-up. You blink awake blearily, lifting your head to see what could have caused such a tragedy, and spot Jake in your doorway looking at you curiously. 

"Yeah?" you mumble, dropping your head and rubbing at your eyes with one hand. 

"I was wondering about food," he says, shifting slightly to lean against the doorframe. "It's nearly 6."

You frown at him. "AM?"

"Nope. PM. Dinnertime."

"Damn." You rub at your eyes again as you sit up, then say, "Kinda thought it was already morning. I should get that light changed out for something more..." you trail off, waving your hand around in the air. "Not-bright." He laughs at that and you manage a bit of a smile. "But, at any rate, dinner? I dunno. Not enough leftovers, I don't think. Take-out or something sound good to you?"

He shrugs. "Good as anything."

You nod, then gesture to your desk. "Top drawer has menus." He moves to open the drawer and you stretch and stand, shoving your phone in your pocket before you add, "Choose whatever, I'm not picky," as you enter the kitchen. 

He follows you a few minutes later, handing you a worn menu for Flip's. You glance up at him and grin as you take the menu. "Couldn't get enough of Flip's, huh?"

"Apparently not," he laughs. "I thought they were fast food, though? Wouldn't that be... Oh, I don't know. More of a drive-through and not a home delivery?"

You shrug. "Flip's can do whatever. They're great and they know it and so does the rest of the city. Do you want the same thing you got last time? Or you lookin' to try something different?"

"The same."

"Righto. Two Flip's burgers and the works, coming right up." 

You order and grab your wallet from your room, coming back to the kitchen to find Jake perched on one of the stools at the island. You sit at the other, dropping your wallet on the table, and lean back against the counter. 

It's quiet for a few minutes longer than qualifies for a 'companionable silence' and you use the time to think about what you're going to say. "Hey, Jake."

"Hm?"

"So I was... wondering," you start, speaking slowly, and when you don't say anything more he raises one eyebrow and glances at you with a faint grin. 

"Might you be willing to share what it is you're wondering about?"

You laugh slightly and rub at the back of your neck. "Yeah, sorry, was getting there. I was wondering... what exactly is going on between us."

His grin fades just a little. "Oh." 

"Yeah, no, don't - okay I'm messing this up, aren't I. Let me start again. I like you, you've said that you like me, and I'm wondering whether you're interested in like. A one night stand kinda thing or if you're more into the whole dating shebang."

"Oh, right. Of course. Ah, ha ha, well." He glances away and you see traces of a blush on his cheeks. "I'm not much of a kiss-them-and-leave-them fellow, as... well, cool as that would be." 

"Not so cool for those being left."

"Well, no," he admits. "But they make for cool characters." You grin and he meets your gaze to smile before looking away again. "I... would be, um, open to. Dating. The shebang, as you called it." He sounds awkward. You hope you don't sound as awkward as he does. To try and make the mood lighter, you try for a joke.

"Dating, huh? Like a quick fling or a long-term situation? Here, let me put it this way: should I tell Roxy that wedding bells are in the future?"

He sputters and you laugh, quickly adding, "No wedding bells. Got that." You grin at him and slowly he returns it, looking like he's about to say something else when the doorbell rings. 

As you pay for the food, Jake spins idly on the stool, spinning to a halt when you drop a burger in front of him. He grins and thanks you, and it's quiet again - but it's a better quiet, one that's not nearly as awkward, and filled with the sound of people eating delicious food. 

In the middle of eating, you remember your conversation with Jane. "Oh, yeah. Hey. Jake." He glances at you around a mouthful of burger and you say, "Jane says hi."

He stares at you for a moment before swallowing his food. "Wait, what? Jane? When'd you speak to her?"

"Earlier," you say, waving your hand in the air slightly. "She was getting back to me on the files I sent for her to look at." 

"Oh. I see. Did she get anything good from them?"

"Well, they know we took Meulin. They're lookin' for her."

It's quiet and you finish your burger and start on your fries before he speaks again. "That's… not good for us. You wanted to hide your truck - you did that, right?"

You glance at him. "Yeah. You were there, too, but you were... rather tipsy. In a drunk way and in a tipping over way."

He frowns at the remains of his meal. "Oh. Right, well, I suppose there was a limit on how much I was going to remember of last night."

You grin and add, "Well, in other news, my brother has a friend over and she's having problems."

He looks relieved at the change of topic but the relief quickly changes for concern. "Problems? Did... Dave, right?" You nod and he continues, leaning a little closer to you and speaking in a conspiratorial, quiet voice. "Did Dave get her pregnant?"

"I - what, no, don't - okay, hold up." You push the empty fry container away from you and look at him rather seriously. "I don’t think so," you say slowly, "and by 'don't think so' I mean that I really doubt it. But Dave didn't exactly tell me the full extent of the problem. I - shit, now I'm gonna have to drop by and give him a hard time." 

"Wouldn't you give him a hard time anyways?"

You laugh. "Well, yeah. What's a brother for if not to give his brother a hard time? Plus, I haven't been to his place in ages, it's due for some Strider antics."

"...Strider antics? That sounds ominous."

"It is," you say, nodding solemnly. "But in the best way. Plus, hey! It means less puppets lying around this place getting stepped on." Jake has the grace to blush as you wag your finger at him. "Don't think I haven't seen you, English. Stepping on the poor puppets. For shame."

He laughs and shrugs, pushes his stool back, and stands in one fluid motion. He moves to the couch and collapses on that, then looks to you and asks, "Up for a post-meal movie?"

"Movie, or you watching the movie and me being bored?"

He looks affronted and you laugh. "Well, if you're bored during the movies I like, then you can pick one," he says, and you grin. 

"You like every movie," you say, moving towards the cabinet under the TV. You open it and rummage for a minute, trying to find where you shoved the movies - and you find them behind a stack of identical Cooking Mama games. Thank you, Rose, for your excellent gifts.

"...And?"

"And, some movies are terrible. Dude, I usually like bad movies - but I like them because they're bad and you like them because they're movies." 

"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds like a bad thing."

You glance back at him as you slide the movie disc into the DVD player. "It's not. Never change, bro, never change."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oKAY so I think that this is the next-to-last batch of Plot-Forwarding Really Important Conversations. There's gonna be two more for sure, but after that, it should be less plot build-up and more plot-doing. Which'll be fun. Speaking of plot, can you figure out which file numbers belong to which mutants?


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **[Aradia]** i know he said hed talk to you but did he tell you whats going on right now? [8:23]  
>  **[Aradia]** with the apartment and life the universe and everything i mean [8:23]  
>  **[Di-stri]** There's a problem and it involves a friend and he wanted my brotherly wisdom. Also, you laughed at him. [8:24]  
>  **[Aradia]** ok good youre up to date [8:26]

"Okay, so, grab those trash bags," you say, gesturing to the kitchen. "They're in the... third drawer? Or something. You'll find them." 

Jake glances at you, confused, but he slowly gets up from the couch. "Grab trash bags? Dirk, it's," he looks off to the side, checking his phone, "it's 8 o'clock. In the evening."

"I don’t think this qualifies as evening anymore, bro."

He frowns at you but crosses the room to the kitchen as you shrug. "Well," he says, "then it's 8 o'clock at night. Why are you taking out the trash right now?"

"I'm not," you say, grinning. "There won't be actual trash going in the bags."

"...Then what are they for?" 

"Strider antics."

He laughs at that and starts rummaging in drawers as you stands, stretching, and then begin to pick things up from the floor. Mostly puppets. And by puppets, you mean smuppets, because Dave is the only Strider to have the gall not to enjoy smuppets. 

You drop the accumulating puppets into a pile by the counter and say, "Put these in the bags, will you? I'm gonna grab the ones in my room."

Your room has more smuppets than the living room (as it should) and you make several trips back and forth before you stop to take a long look at the bags. There's two of them, both already filled to the top - that's enough to get most of the areas in Dave's apartment, you think.

It's more fun when Dave's not expecting the puppet shower, so you lean against a chair and pull out your phone to message Aradia. 

**[Di-stri]** Hey, Aradia, is Dave home tomorrow? [8:13]  
**[Aradia]** hes gone for a few hours in the afternoon [8:20]  
**[Aradia]** why? [8:20]  
**[Di-stri]** I'm gonna drop by. It's been too long since I've been over there. The puppets miss him. [8:21]  
**[Aradia]** ehehe that sounds fun! but [8:22]  
**[Aradia]** i know he said hed talk to you but did he tell you whats going on right now? [8:23]  
**[Aradia]** with the apartment and life the universe and everything i mean [8:23]  
**[Di-stri]** There's a problem and it involves a friend and he wanted my brotherly wisdom. Also, you laughed at him. [8:24]  
**[Aradia]** ok good youre up to date [8:26]  
**[Di-stri]** Part of the reason I'm comin' over is to try and help with the problem. [8:27]  
**[Aradia]** and the other is to pester your brother [8:29]  
**[Di-stri]** Of course. [8:29]  
**[Aradia]** nice [8:34]  
**[Aradia]** hes gone from 3-5 [8:34]  
**[Aradia]** ill be here though and so will our friend [8:35]  
**[Aradia]** and if you could leave the bone cabinet alone this time thatd be great [8:36]  
**[Aradia]** last time the smuppets brought a bunch of skulls down with them and one broke :( [8:36]  
**[Di-stri]** Oh, damn. I'm sorry about that. [8:37]  
**[Di-stri]** The bone cabinets are in your rooms, right? [8:38]  
**[Aradia]** yes [8:39]  
**[Di-stri]** I'll keep the puppets away from the bones. [8:40]  
**[Aradia]** thank you [8:42]  
**[Aradia]** text me when you get here [8:42]  
**[Di-stri]** Will do. Thanks, Aradia. [8:43]  
**[Aradia]** no problem [8:45]

"Hey, Jake," you say, and he glances up at you from the puppet in his hands. "I’m gonna head over to Dave's around 4 tomorrow."

"Taking the puppets with you, I take it?" You grin at him in answer and he laughs, then carefully places the puppet on the kitchen counter. "Of course. Have... fun, I suppose? I don’t know why you need to take puppets with you. No, strike that, I don’t know why you have all these puppets in the first place."

You pretend to be scandalized and dramatically place a hand over your heart. "Careful, English, you'll hurt their feelings."

He laughs and raises his hands in a placating way, saying, "Oh, we don’t want _that_ , my mistake!" 

You smile a little at that, then step away from the chair and towards your room. "Right, I'm gonna go work on some stuff. I'll see 'ya in the morning."

"Hey -" You pause and glance back and Jake looks a little embarrassed. For a minute, you think he's going to ask you something important, or that he's going to kiss you again, or - "Can I borrow your robot? The rapping one. Squarewave, was it?"

You stare at him, then laugh and say, "Yeah, sure, dude. But a night with Squarewave won't work miracles. You'll still be terrible at rapping." 

"Well, with that attitude, sure." 

You grin and tell him to hold tight while you grab the robot. Squarewave is sitting under your desk and you pull him out, waking him up with the press of a few buttons on his side. 

When you go to hold your door open so that Squarewave can walk over to Jake, you think you see Jake's jaw drop. No, you definitely see that. You reach for your phone in your pocket, only to notice it on the counter - damn, you wanted to take a picture. 

The moment's gone as Jake's gaze snaps to you and he says, "I didn't know he could _move_." 

You shrug. "He can talk and think for himself. Doin' that's the tricky bit. After that, getting him to walk isn't so hard."

Jake looks to you as if you just laid bare the secrets of the universe and you find yourself grinning. You can feel your cheeks starting to redden and you clear your throat before waving your hand in the direction of your room. "I, uh, I'm gonna - yeah. Have fun with Squarewave." You glance down at the rap-bot, then add, "And, Squarewave, try not to kick his ass too hard, will you?"

You close your bedroom door to the sound of Squarewave saying "NO PROMISES, BRO -" and immediately launching into a fast-paced spiel. You stay there, standing with your back to the door, for a few minutes before softly laughing to yourself and moving to your desk. Yes, yes, you know, you said you were going to work, but instead of opening up a document, you open up the video game you've been playing for the last few days.

You're in the middle of your game when your phone starts to buzz repeatedly, signaling an incoming call. When you get a look at the caller ID, you're surprised to see it's Roxy - she prefers to text or type. Calling's never really been her thing. But you pick up and slide your phone between your ear and your shoulder, saying, "Hey, Rox," as you pause your game. 

It's silent on the other end and you wonder if maybe you've lost connection. You're about to try hanging up and calling her back when you hear a soft, choking sound, as if she's crying. You slowly set your controller down and shift your phone so that you can hold it in your hand. 

"Roxy?" You say, softly. "Hey, Roxy, are you with me?"

"She's gone," Roxy says, sounding distant. "Gone. Poof." You can hear her breathing, ragged and quick, and you lean back in your chair. 

"Who's gone?"

"Her. My - my mom. Gone." She pauses. "I.. We came up here, y'know? Rose bought plane tickets." Another pause and you hear a faint sniff. "I went to her funeral. Yesterday. It was - it was yesterday. Rose's still back there, at the house, doing all sorts of grown-up things. I should be helping her. Hell, just - I - Dirk, what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong with you," you say, but she continues, unhearing.

"I can't even stay there for five minutes without bawling my fuckin' eyes out. Dirk, I - I. I can't _do_ this, Dirk. She's fucking _gone_ and I can't do this!" She stops and you can hear her crying again. 

You wait a few minutes, until you can hear her sobs start to quiet, before you ask, "What happened?"

"She - I don't know. It just... happened. Heart attack. Somethin' like that." She pauses and you hear her take a deep breath before she continues. "Her friend found her. God, Dirk, can you even imagine how awful that must have been? Finding your friend dead on the ground?"

You turn in your chair slightly, so that you can look at the wall, and let out a deep breath. "I can imagine." 

For a few minutes, you're both silent. You don’t really know where to go from here. You want to ask her if she's okay, but it's fairly obvious that she's not. You want to go to her and find some way to help her feel better, but her Mom lives - lived - in New York, and you can't get to New York that easily. You can do a lot of things, but teleportation is not one of them. Right now, you really wish you could, if only to comfort your best friend. Eventually, you say, "It's not your fault."

She's silent, so you continue. "I'm sure that Rose understands why you're not there right now. And I'm sure that your mom's okay, wherever she now, and that she understands as well." 

You hear some sort of shuffling on the other end and then a soft, emotionless laugh. "Ha, yeah, I - I just nodded. Forgot you couldn't see me for a sec." She pauses. "I just... why can't..." She lets out a shaky sigh. "I wish I had spent more time with her. The last time I saw her was... when I moved out. That... that was three years ago."

"I think that's pretty normal," you say, "wishing you had spent more time with people, I mean." You pause. "I know I... This was a long while ago. Remember when my brother died? I'd lived with him for every day of my life and I still wish I'd spent more time with him. Which probably wouldn't have been a good idea - he and I mainly just pissed each other off and strifed. We only got along when he was teaching me about robots and when something was happening with Dave." She laughs a little at that and you crack a grin. After that, it's quiet again, but it's a companionable sort of silence; just the two of you sitting and breathing. You're glad for the silence, because silence means that she's not crying.

Roxy breaks the silence a few minutes later, saying, "Hey, Dirk?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For listening to me."

"No problem, Rox - what are friends for?" You turn back to your desk, then say, "Do you want to keep talking?"

"Not really," she says with a sigh. "I'm gonna... get up. Do something. I'm in a park right now. What am I doing in a park at night?"

"Talking to me on the phone?"

"Smartass," she says fondly.

You grin, though she can't see you. "Well, I'm gonna get to work, but I'll keep my phone on me. Don't hesitate to call if you end up wanting to talk some more, 'kay?"

"'Kay. Bye, Dirky," she says, and you can hear the smile in her voice. 

"See ya, Roxy."

You end the call and tilt your head back to stare at the ceiling, then slowly look back down at your game. You save, close, and move to your bed, as if the ceiling four-feet-to-the-right of your desk is any more interesting. With a sigh, you close your eyes and start to think - about Roxy, mostly, and how you're going to give her a hug as soon as you see her next.

With that thought, you drift off to sleep and dream of cats in bottles. 

You wake up, however, to loud swing music blasting through the apartment. 

With a groan, you slowly open your eyes and stare at your door, which muffles the sound somewhat, but not nearly enough to allow you to fall back asleep. Grumbling, you slowly stand up and stretch, pull on a different pair of pants, and stick your head out the door.

Jake is cooking something but glances over when he sees the door open. He grins at you, then says, loudly, in order to be heard over the music, "Dirk! Mornin'!" 

You shift your gaze to the TV - the source of the noise - and slowly walk over and turn the volume down to something significantly more bearable. "I see you found Pandora," you say, deadpan.

"I did! It took a while, though, and," he pauses to glare at Squarewave, who's sitting by the TV and bobbing in time with the music, "a certain someone was no help. None at all." 

"If you wanted help you should have promised to turn on something that wouldn't ruin the hearing of everyone in the building. Or, maybe you shouldn't have asked the robot for help."

"THE ROBOT CAN HEAR YA."

"You're meant to hear."

If you'd given Squarewave a face capable of scowling, you're sure he would be scowling at you now. Instead of scowling back, you walk over to the counter and take a seat, looking curiously at the stove. "What're you making?"

"Breakfast."

You frown at him, but he passes you a cup of coffee and turns back to breakfast. Minutes later, he passes you a plate of eggs - the breakfast in question, apparently - and a fork, then dishes some up for himself and sits beside you, making small talk around scrambled eggs. 

When you finish, you push your dishes into the sink and run some water over them while Jake glances at his phone. "Oh, Dirk," he says, and you glance over. "Tavros messaged me. He said... he's free this afternoon, once he finishes a few house calls, and that he'd message me when he was able to come over. For my wing." 

You turn the water off in the sink and then turn around, leaning back against the counter. Your eyes move to look at Jake's wings, sticking out behind his back, and you feel a clenching in your gut. You'll never feel fine about that, you think, but you say, "Awesome," instead, then follow it with a "I’m gonna go clean up a bit, then. Make the apartment all nice and clean for dear Tavros."

He laughs at that and you smile back, the clenching in your gut relaxing a little as you move towards your room and from there, the bathroom. You end up hunting around for cleaning supplies (they were under the sink. You did not think to look under the sink until a good half hour after you started looking for them) and then you crack your knuckles and get to work. 

By the time you finish, you can see your reflection in the countertops. The Dirk-shaped dent in the comforter on your bed is smoothed out, old leftovers in the fridge are thrown away, and the trash bags full of puppets are moved near the front door for ease of leaving. Jake watches some of the cleaning with an amused look, but doesn't offer to help - instead, he lounges on the couch and checks his phone every few minutes, impatient for Tavros to arrive, and you join him on the couch to watch some Food Network.

When 3:45 rolls around, your alarm and Jake's phone go off at the same time, startling the two of you. Jake reaches for his and you for yours - you silence your phone and Jake grins at his, then looks up at you and says, "Tavros is on his way. He should be here in fifteen, he's just outside of town."

"All right. Well, I'll probably be gone before he gets here," you say, standing up and stretching. You walk over to the counter and grab your shades, then to the door to grab the bags. You say goodbye to Jake and he waves at you as you leave, locking the door behind you.

The ride in the elevator down to the parking lot is short and the walk to your truck is much the same. You toss the bags into the back of your truck, then get inside and pull out your phone to send a quick text to Aradia.

**[Di-stri]** I'm on my way. I'll be there in ten minutes, give or take. [3:51]  
**[Aradia]** ok see you then [3:52]

You hesitate before you turn the keys in the ignition and get on your way before you can second guess yourself about taking your (very unique, noticeable) truck over to Dave's. As you drive, you think about maybe getting it repainted - plain black or silver would be fine, you think, but you don't know about the cost. 

You arrive at Dave and Aradia's building, park in one out-of-the-way corner, and hoist the trash bags over your shoulder as you make your way to the front door. You press the button for Dave's apartment on the intercom and wait for a moment before Aradia's voice says, "Hello?"

"Hey. It's Dirk."

"Oh, hey! Come on up." And so you do. 

Dave and Aradia's apartment is on the third floor and you take the stairs up, two at a time. When you reach their door, you knock on it and then lean against the doorframe. 

The door opens and you see Aradia grinning at you, so you grin back and take a step inside when she moves out of the way. As she does, you glance around. "You've redecorated," you notice, and Aradia laughs. 

"Just a little. Dave thought the old couch was amazing, but that was before he went and carved a chunk out of it with his sword." You raise an eyebrow at that and she shrugs. "He says it was an accident." 

"Do you believe him?"

She hums and shrugs a little, then glances at the bags. "Do you want help with those?"

You consider this and then hand her one, very solemnly. She accepts it, very solemnly, and then giggles when she feels how heavy it is. "How many did you put in here?"

"I brought most of them. What can I say? I’m a generous guy. Giving my bro the gift of puppets is just one way I show him how much I care." She laughs again. "Here, I'll take the kitchen. No bones in the kitchen, right? Right. Then there's no risk that I'll break anything important." 

You move towards the cabinets and she heads down the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. You hear a door open and some soft talking - presumably the friend Dave was telling you about - but you keep focused on the task at hand and methodically fill up various parts of the kitchen. Soon, the fridge, cabinets, and the dishwasher are full of plush rumps in a rainbow of colors, and your bag is empty. 

You crumple the trash bag and leave it on the counter - you'll ask Aradia if she wants anything specific done with it - and glance over at the hallway at the sound of voices. Aradia comes back into the kitchen, then grins at you and asks, "All done?"

"Yeah," you say, then glance at the fridge. "You might want to go out to eat tonight. The fridge is a little occupied."

She nods seriously, then says, "Duly noted." She pauses, then glances over her shoulder and says, "Hey. Do you want to meet her? Our friend, I mean."

You hesitate. "Wouldn't it be better if Dave was here?" 

"Well, maybe. But he's not here right now, and there's not much to do except wait for him. Might as well get our introductions out of the way. Though, um. Dirk, you'll have to promise not to do anything stupid."

"I've never done anything stupid in my life." Aradia narrows her eyes and you raise your arms in a placating gesture. "Yes, I promise, I won't do anything stupid. Though, what stupid things am I promising not to do, exactly?"

"Well, murder would top the list," she says and you frown. Why would you murder your brother's friend? You open your mouth to respond, but she turns and says, "Hey, come on out! Dirk's nice. Usually."

"I'm always nice," you protest, still confused, but when the girl pokes her head out from around the corner of the hallway and makes her way over to Aradia, realization hits you.

The girl is tall and lean, nearly tall enough to look you in the eyes, and when she stands next to Aradia she's nearly a full head above her. She runs a hand almost nervously through her hair, around a pair of large white ears on the top of her head, then smiles at you.

"I now see why you made me promise not to do anything stupid," you say, and Aradia gives you a capital-l Look but the girl only laughs. 

"I told her I'd be fine, but she didn't listen," the girl says, grinning down at Aradia. "I can take care of myself!" 

Aradia turns her Look to the girl, who continues to smile, and then shrugs. "Well, if you say so, miss I'm-going-to-visit-my-friends-and-get-myself-tu- mmph." 

Aradia cuts off as the girl claps a hand over her mouth and says, brightly, "Well! That's fun and everything but let's not talk about it right now." She removes her hand and wipes it on her skirt, then says, "You're Dirk, aren't you? Dave's brother?"

"Sounds about right," you say. 

"It's nice to meet you, Dirk! I'm Jade."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The return of Tavros and Squarewave, the culmination of some of that Roxy build-up, and the hanging-off of a cliff. Fun times, yeah?
> 
> (quick note: Aradia's typing isn't using 0's, i know. that's because she's alive and well and after some careful examination of her MSPA Wiki page, the 0's only happened once she died.)


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's quiet, once the last puppet has fallen, and after a few minutes Dave finally speaks. "Et tu, Dirk?"

The name doesn't register with you until you're already shaking her hand and saying, "Nice to meet you, too." Then your eyes go wide behind your shades and as you let go of her hand, you lean back against the counter and study the girl in front of you. 

She's tall, like Jake. Her eyes are green, like Jake's, but hers are much brighter than his and stand out, two bright spots in the middle of a dark face. They have the same hair color, same skin color, same cheerful expression; her glasses are rounder and her nose is a little crooked, like it was broken when she was younger, while he has a broader face and an accent. 

Slowly, you ask, "Jade, you wouldn't happen to have a cousin named Jake, would you?"

Her gaze brightens more, if that's possible, and she nods. "Yeah, I do! Do you know him? Wait - have you -" she stops, clenching and unclenching her hands in a sudden bout of nervousness. "Uh, first question first, actually."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know him."

"Have you... have you talked to him recently? Is he worried?" She's worrying at her lip now. 

"He's looking for you," you say. "Well, really, so I am I." You pause, then laugh. "Or, I was, come to think of it. Surprise! I've found you." Jade smiles a little at you and you smile a little back. 

Aradia's looking between you and Jade, evidently confused. You sigh and gesture to the couches in the center of the room. "Here, let me explain. It's a bit a story."

As the three of you take seats on the couches, you tell them what's been going on. How you met Jake - which leads to an impromptu argument, mostly on Jade's side, while you explain why you would try to kill her cousin (she calms down readily enough and accepts your explanation, but she eyes you funny for a few minutes after that). How Jake's been living with you since Jade went missing, how you found other mutants, how you found Meulin. You don't tell them about your conversations with AR about crushes or about the night at the bar when he kissed you.

"Right now, Tavros should be over," you say, finishing up, "taking the splint off his wing. And now you know everything."

"That's..." Aradia says. 

"I don't..." Jade says, simultaneously. 

They stop and look at each other before sharing a smile. Aradia laughs a little and gestures for Jade to go ahead. "I don't really know what to say to that," Jade says, looking from Aradia to you. "I mean... Wow. That’s..."

"Yeah," you say. "I get it."

There's another pause and then Jade speaks again. "Hm. Well, I've heard your part of the story. I bet you wanna hear mine!" 

You laugh. "Sure."

"Right." She shifts slightly, curling her legs under herself, and frowns at the wall. "Let's see. Well, I came here because I wanted to surprise Dave. We've been friends for years and I'd never met him! Never seen a picture of him! Never spoken to him! Though, I guess we _did_ talk once, but it was a really terrible Skype call." You raise an eyebrow and she shrugs, lifting her arms in an exaggerated way. "His connection kept cutting out, he left halfway through the call to do something with a sword, I don't really know!" 

She grins as you laugh, then takes a breath and continues. "But - yeah. I had the address, I told Aradia I was going so that she could make sure Dave was there for the surprise, and I _thought_ I told Jake, but, I think he must not have been listening. He does that sometimes. You think he's listening to you but he's just nodding his head and reading a comic book under the table."

"Really," she says, "I probably should have told him again, to make sure he knew, because he does freak out like that a lot. But I didn't, and - wow. It's pretty lucky he got here without knowing where I went." She pauses and fidgets with some colored string on her fingers, then looks up as she starts talking again. 

"When I got here, I wasn't planning on staying very long or anything, so I didn't bring anything with me besides a rifle and my phone. Oh, and a granola bar, but I ate that. So I get here and pull up the address, get my bearings, and start walking. I ended up going down some side streets to avoid weird looks - I will never understand why people think it's so weird to walk around with your weapons out! It's perfectly normal and very safe!"

"Normal would be a handgun, maybe. Possibly. If you have a uniform and a police badge. Most people don't carry unlicensed rifles on their person," Aradia points out, and Jade sticks out her tongue. 

"Most people are stupid. But! That's not important. So I was walking down these streets and... well, um." She pauses. "This is a little embarrassing, haha. But I walked past a group of people that were arguing - pretty loudly - and next thing I know they're moving around and there's this body just, lying on the ground! Puddle of blood and everything! So I stop and just -" She shifts around again, putting her hands on her hips and scowling. "I do this and say, 'Hey! What are you doing? That's really bad, you can't just leave that there!' And next thing I know they're staring at me like I said something really crazy-sounding."

She shrugs. "Well, I guess they didn't like having their faults pointed out, because next thing I know they're rushing at me and I don't even have time to pull out my gun. And then I wake up in this... room. There was another girl there, and these people in lab coats kept walking through. I don't think any of them knew what they were doing, because all they did was point at each other and then at us and argue." 

"Come to think of it," she says, "that seems to be a thing with these people. Arguing." 

She's quiet for a minute or two, apparently mulling over how much these people argue. You clear your throat to get her attention and when she looks at you, you ask, "So what happened? How'd you get out?"

"Oh! Right. Whoops, sorry!" She laughs. "I ended up falling asleep a lot - it's a bad habit of mine, but I'm pretty sure they had something to do with it, too - and one time when I woke up, my head and back were really sore. And I started trying to figure out why and," she lifts her hand to touch her large ears, "I had these. And a tail. And they move! They're pretty neat, really!"

"As for getting out, I pretended to be asleep and when one of them got too close I kicked him. Um. Really hard. Then I just kinda... made a break for it. They have bad security." 

This time, you laugh. "Tell me about it." 

She grins back at you and there's a comfortable, companionable silence, the kind that only comes around when a group of people have just talked about a facility that regularly mutates people and how one of the group escaped. Eventually, Aradia asks, "So, what now?"

"Well," you start, "Jake should probably know that you're safe. Set his mind at ease, y'know? And -" You're interrupted by the door opening, loudly, and for a second you're sure it's Roxy, come home early from New York. Few people can imitate her door slams.

"Dammit - Aradia, you in there?"

Apparently, Dave can imitate her door slams. Who knew.

"Yeah?"

"Great. Buckle up, you're in for a ride," comes Dave's voice from the door. "So yesterday I went down to H-fucking-Q and took a look at the job listings and what do I see but this real sweet deal, stand around behind some bigwig for a couple hours and get $500. Cash. So I'm all, hell yeah and stuff, and Rose tells me the job's for today. No biggie, right? Not like I had anything planned. So I head downtown and get to the place, some art gallery full of paintings of naked people - I think most of them were of the artist. Guy's got a big ego and an even - right, not going there. But I get there, I stand around, and the guy doesn't show up. When the time's up and I'm about the leave, rightfully affronted and all, he finally gets up off his ass and appears in the doorway, yammering about whatever. The ass hands me a five-dollar bill and kicks me out." 

"That's terrible," Aradia says, grinning a little and shooting you a glance. You can hear Jade snickering from behind her hands and then Dave walks into the living room and she quiets down. 

"It was, bar none, the worst job I've taken. No, wait, I'm lying. The worst was the one where I got stuck in the sewer trying to chase down some lady's kid." He heads into the kitchen, not even glancing at the three of you, and pushes his shades up onto his head, forcing his hair to stick up at an odd angle as he's muttering to himself. He pauses in front of the fridge to ask, in a louder voice, "Did you get to the store earlier?"

Aradia nods, then realizes he's not looking at her and so says, "Yeah. Juice is on the lower shelf - it wouldn't fit in the door." As she speaks, you snort and she glances between you and Dave before realization dawns on her.

"Great," Dave says, opening the door, and then, "Shit," as he's buried in a fast-moving pile of plush puppet rump. 

It's quiet, once the last puppet has fallen, and after a few minutes Dave finally speaks. "Et tu, Dirk?"

Your grin widens as Dave's disheveled head appears from behind the counter and he frowns at you, then glances over to where Aradia and Jade are sitting. Jade waves a little at him and he raises an eyebrow. 

"I met Dirk," Jade says, helpfully. 

"I met Jade," you say, helpfully. 

"I introduced them," Aradia says, helpfully. 

Dave stares, unhelpfully, groans once, and falls back down behind the counter. 

It's a while before Aradia is able to coax Dave to stand up and join your little group in the living room, but once he does he insists he insists on being filled in. So you do. You tell him everything you told Jade and Aradia and slowly Dave's mouth forms into a thin line. 

He leans back on the couch where he sits, then says, "So - what? We each somehow managed to find one half of the Harley-English duo?"

"That is exactly what happened. Good on you, Dave, you listened to what I was saying." Dave frowns and you shrug. "But, yes, we did. Call it fate if you will."

"Weird-ass sorta fate," he grumbles. 

Aradia nods. "I'll say. I'm kinda curious about all this, now - what's going to happen next?" Jade glances at her and Aradia gestures a bit with her hands. "Well, I mean, the facility... thing has got to be freaking out about this. You're safe, Jake's safe, Mew- what was her name?" 

"Meulin."

"Meulin's safe. And since everyone's safe, you can get into the fun bits." Aradia's eyes are shining brightly. 

"... 'Radia."

"Dave?"

"What fun bits."

"The part where you figure out what's going on! I mean, if you're even going to." She glances at you and you do a shrug-nod-combo.

Jade leans forwards and asks, "What's going on?"

"Why they'd take you off the streets," you say, "and why the facility would be making mutants in the first place." You pause, then add, "Which, come to think of it, I'd really like to know. This does sound fun."

Dave groans. "Okay. So. I'm not saying that that doesn't sound like fun. But please tell me you aren't thinking you'll start right now."

Jade laughs at that and Aradia grins as you shake your head. "Dave, what do you take me for? I'm as lazy as you. And I want to go home." You stand and wipe your hands on your pants, then glance at your phone. You have a text from - oh, shit. Jake. You message him back - a quick _Yeah I'm on my way, I'll be home in fifteen._ before glancing over at where Jade is messing with her finger-bands again.

"Okay, I'm gonna grab my stuff," you say, "but - Jade? Can I talk to you for a sec?"

She looks at you curiously and you walk over to the kitchen, away from where Aradia and Dave have started arguing about dinner. You lean against the counter and she takes a seat on a tall stool.

"So," you start. "Do you want to tell Jake that you're here, or do you want me to?"

"Oh. Oh! Right! Jake doesn't know I'm here. Shit. Okay, um, I'll tell him, but -" She pauses, then looks over her shoulder and raises her voice. "Dave! Aradia! What's for dinner?"

"Aradia's going to get it now," Dave calls back. "Taco shop by the gas station. The good stuff." 

"Oooh. Okay. Hm. Well I really want those tacos, so - how about you tell him and I'll message him around, oh, 7:30 or 8?"

"Will do," you say, with a little two-finger salute. "Well, I'm gonna go catch up with Aradia and get home. I'll talk to you later, Jade."

"It was nice meeting you, Dirk!"

"Likewise." You walk away and ruffle Dave's hair, making him squawk, and say a quick goodbye to him as well as you leave. You hurry out of the apartment and into the stairwell, calling to Aradia to wait for you. The two of you chat a little on your way to the parking lot, where you dramatically say farewell and then go your separate ways. The drive home takes its sweet time - just a little longer than your 15-minute estimation - and then you're letting yourself into your apartment.

The apartment, which is, you notice as you turn around, looking a little emptier than before. You only get a moment to notice why - the furniture's been pushed to the sides, leaving a large open space in the middle of your living room - before the open space talks and says, "Hello, Dirk!"

You look down at your feet and see Jake, spread out on his stomach on the floor, stretching his wings out in slow movements. 

"Tavros removed the splint, I see," you say, crouching down. 

"He did. It feels - it feels amazing. Like I just got them again. Soreness and everything." He laughs, then pushes himself up into a sitting position and leans back on the palms of his hands. "How did Dave's go?"

"Dave's fine. He got a face full of puppet. Aradia is also fine. She got to laugh as Dave got a face full of puppet." You pause as Jake laughs, then say, "And their friend is someone very interesting." 

"Interesting? Do tell."

You smile a little at him. "Fate's got a sense of humor," you say, "because you went to exactly the right city at the right time. Dave's friend is Jade."

Jake's eyes widen and his mouth drops open just a little. "Jade," he says, slowly. "My cousin Jade, who I came here to find."

"The very same. She's fine. She is a mutant, but all I could see were big," you gesture to your head, "ears, but she said she had a tail as well. And I would have asked her to come with me to reunite with you in person, so you could do a big reunion, but Aradia was getting tacos for dinner and Jade wanted some."

Jake stares at you before bursting out into laughter. "That's Jade, alright," he says, looking fondly at the wall over your shoulder. 

"She'll message you around... 8. 7-something. Later. Not now." You pause, then add, "I'm sure you'll get your chance to do a dramatic reunion in person, bro. Just not tonight."

"Tacos are more important than cousins," Jake says, grinning and shifting his gaze to you. His eyes shift, looking at yours, even through your shades and you fidget a little with a loose string on your pants. 

You're startled when Jake suddenly leans forwards and wraps his arms around you in a big bear hug. "Thank you for finding her, Dirk," he says, softly, and slowly you return the gesture and hug him back. The two of you sit - or, in your case, crouch - like that, staying still until Jake's stomach grumbles noisily. 

"Oh," he says, pulling away so that he can look at his chest, "shush, you. You're ruining a moment."

You laugh and stand, keeping your arms around Jake so that you can pull him up with you. "Hungry, are you?" He frowns at you and shrugs and you hum thoughtfully. "How about we go out to eat?"

He pulls further away from you, but still doesn't let go. "Go out?"

"Like at a restaurant. With waiters. And menus. And TVs that play sports shows that people cheer at."

He takes this in, then grins a little. "Dirk Strider, are you asking me out?"

You feel your cheeks heat up and glance away. "Depends. If I did, would you say yes?"

"I think you know the answer to that," he says, leaning in towards you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sO things are starting to get fairly wrapped up. This is not, however, the end of the story! And also I don't know when the end of the story will be. But I doubt it'll be soon. On that note, I'm also thinking that - depending on where I end this story - I might end up writing a sequel, or short side-stories. Maybe some explanation on what, exactly, HQ and the Facility think they're doing (assuming I don't get to explaining that in here) and things like that. I suppose we'll see!


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Jake," you interrupt, "if you're honestly about to tell me that you don't think there's anything wrong with the 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' movie, we might have a problem."

It takes a little while to get Jake to settle on a restaurant. "This one seems good, but, ah, Italian food... Oh! I was watching the Food Network earlier, there was a brilliant... hm. What was it - chicken, crusted with... almonds? Something. I wonder what kind of place would have that. Oh, is this Indian?"

You decide to help narrow down the selection. "How about we walk there? It's a nice night."

He nods thoughtfully and eventually settles on the Oglog M'Rubbit Brewery - Rose's favorite, which makes sense, considering the décor - in easy walking distance. Jake tries to put off covering his wings for as long as he can, only finally shrugging on a shirt and thick jacket when you point out that it'll likely only get hurt again if he leaves it where everyone can see it. Once the issue of clothing has been dealt with, though, it's smooth sailing down the street and over a block to the outside. You hold the door open for Jake, like a true gentleman, and wait for him to enter. 

He doesn't enter.

Instead, he stands outside staring up at the brilliant sign above the door. Gothic letters framed by tentacles that emerge from over the sides, all done in black and purple. Below, a much brighter, much more cheerful-looking sign proclaims that this is the home of the twenty-two cheese macaroni and the city's best tri-tip steak. 

After a good minute of holding the door open, you say, "Well, are you coming in, or should I leave you hear to admire it some more?"

That snaps him out of it and he looks back at you, stealing one last glimpse of the sign before he walks inside, looking a little sheepish. "Sorry about that. I've... this does not look like a restaurant, you know," he says, wagging a finger at you as though it's your fault, but his smile easily turns his accusing words into a joke. "It looks like a bookstore that only has terrible dark fantasy novels. Paranormal romances and thrillers and a clerk who will swear up and down that the books on witchcraft in the back are going to summon the dark beings."

"The horrorterrors, you mean," you say, as you walk up to the hostess. Jake looks as though he's about to say something more but you say a quick, "Two, please," and follow the hostess to an empty booth near the bar. 

You and Jake sit facing each other and the hostess presses menus into your hands, tall black things that fit the restaurant's theme of eternal damnation and pseudo-wizardry. As soon as the hostess leaves, Jake leans over his menu and asks, "Horrorterrors?"

You nod. "Eldritch shit. Rose eats it up like candy. I think she has an encyclopedia or something at her place that lists out each and every one."

Jake raises an eyebrow. "...Why is there a restaurant devoted to the beings?"

"Because." 

He looks at you and you shrug, then glance down at your menu. "What do you think you'll have?"

"Oh, I don't know. Hm. The sign outside said they had good macaroni..."

"They do," you agree. "I've had it before. Cheesy as shit, but if you're into that, it's worth it."

He glances up at you and grins. "Cheesy shit? Like what, saying your first 'I-love-you's in the rain? Quoting lines from Hallmark movies? Looking at the sunset and you say that it's beautiful and I agree while looking at you?"

You snort and lift the menu up to cover your face. "Definitely. For every order, the chef gains three years of life and a well-worn paperback romance novel."

Jake's grin widens and he looks back to his menu. "Well, that settles it. I'm always willing to add years to someone's life."

You smile back at him and then look over as the server comes up. You order your food - sodas for the both of you, Jake's macaroni, and some pork chops for you that the server recommends.

Your drinks arrive shortly and Jake watches you as he takes a sip of his diet cola. When you notice, you frown at him, and he smiles, then says, "So, Dirk."

"Yeah?"

"What's your favorite color?"

You blink at him - once, twice - then gesture towards your drink. "Orange. Almost exactly this shade, even. Props to Oglog for making such a great orange soda." He laughs and you ask, "You?"

"Blue."

"Light or dark?"

He pauses to think. "Have you seen Avatar?"

"Airbender or blue alien?"

"Alien. Though, the Airbender one w-"

"Jake," you interrupt, "if you're honestly about to tell me that you don't think there's anything wrong with the 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' movie, we might have a problem."

He laughs again. "Oh, certainly not. That is one movie that I will admit has few redeeming qualities."

"Few? Try none." 

"Ha, well, there's always something to appreciate about anything, even an admittedly terrible movie like that one. But, yes, James Cameron's Avatar. The shade of blue that is the Na'vi's skin color - that's my favorite."

You grin at him over your drink. "Very specific."

"It's a brilliant movie and a brilliant color."

"All right," you say, then pause. "Why did you want to know my favorite color?"

"Because I was curious. Still am, really!"

"About colors?"

He smiles and says, "About you," and you can feel your face start to heat up. You open your mouth to say something back - probably something sappy, or stuttery, or, you don't know, _something_ \- but you're saved by the server returning. Jake digs in eagerly and you stare at him for a few moments before picking up a knife and cutting into your pork chops. 

The rest of the evening is... nice. You haven't been on a date this nice since high school, and even then, that was more of a 'fast food and awkward small talk' kind of thing. This is easy and simple. And the macaroni apparently rubbed off on Jake, because he suggests a (cheesy) walk around the nearby park to top off the evening before he and Jade digitally reunite.

"...Yeah," you say, as the two of you turn a corner and walk towards the fountain in the center of the park, "Dave's always been a little shit. But hey, he's my bro." 

"I find it hard to believe that any of that actually happened, though."

"All of it? Or just the part where he nearly fell off the roof of the building?"

"...All of it, but that part especially."

You raise your hands and turn quickly to sit down on the edge of the fountain. You lower your hands and lean back on your palms, then say, "What can I say? Strider strifes can get out of hand. Not a lot of people on a roof to get in the way."

He laughs. "I suppose you have a point." He takes a seat next to you, then sighs and stretches his legs out in front of him. "It's a nice night," he says, after a little while.

"It is," you agree. It's pleasantly dark and you can make out stars from where you sit and a few slow-moving clouds above the trees. Everything around you feels slow and peaceful and you can feel yourself drifting off, lost in thought.

You're startled back to reality when Jake laces his fingers with yours and you glance at him. He's staring off in front of him, watching a few cars rush past the park, a faint smile on his face. You feel a smile grow on your own face and he looks over at you, then says, softly, "It's a nice night."

You say, equally softly, "You said that already," and he leans in a little towards you. You mimic the motion and feel your eyes start to close automatically, the space between the two of you growing smaller and smaller until - 

Just as his lips touch yours, you hear his phone go off. 

It's an incessantly loud ringtone, really, and you stifle a laugh at the indignant expression on Jake's face as he fishes his phone out of his jacket pocket with the hand that isn't holding yours still. 

"What in… oh," he says, as he stares down at his phone. "Oh. It's Jade."

You groan dramatically and throw a hand across your forehead. "Oh, no, whatever shall you do?" You grin at him and he frowns back, though it lacks real annoyance. 

"Tell her to text next time," he grumbles. His phone screen changes from 'someone's calling' to 'you have a missed call' and he sighs before unlocking it to send Jade a message. 

You laugh and stand, turning towards him to say something along the lines of 'hey why don't we head home, then' but he surprises you and tugs on your still-linked hands as he stands. You stumble forwards a half-step and he catches your lips in a kiss, the kind of kiss that would force parents to avert their kid's eyes, he hands going to your face and yours going - somewhere, unable to decide if you want to rest them on his hips or his shoulders or copy him and clutch at his face. You don't know how long the two of you stand there, kissing and the kind of just standing together that happens in between kisses, but eventually Jake's phone buzzes again and you stop. 

He leans forwards and rests his forehead on yours and you laugh, mildly out of breath, before you lean in and kiss him - just once - then pull away and say, "C'mon. Jade awaits."

You walk home, hand in hand, and you're glad it's dark out because you're sure that this is the reddest your face has been all evening. You almost find yourself not caring; after all, you are hopelessly into this boy. 

"Dirk, does your computer have a web camera?" Jake asks as you enter the apartment. 

"Yeah, it does," you say, kicking your shoes off by the door. "Why?"

"Jade would like to video call - and so would I, really - but my phone doesn't seem to support the feature."

"Oh? Huh. Here, let me see that," you say, and Jake hands you his phone. You take a minute to poke around in the settings, then shrug and give it back. "That's kinda odd, considering your phone isn't exactly old. But - yeah, you can use my computer. That's cool."

He grins at you and follows you into your room, perching on the edge of your bed while you sign in to the computer. You log out of Pesterchum - "You want to call on Pesterchum, right?" "Yep, that would be splendid." - and then push the chair away from the desk so he can sit down. 

"Try not to stay up all night," you say, grinning at him, and then you mostly close the door behind you as you go back into the kitchen. 

While Jake and Jade chat - you can hear loud laughter from your room, so you assume it's going swimmingly - you decide to clean. You wipe down the countertops, run something sweet-smelling through the garbage disposal, and throw out some milk in the fridge that's gone bad. You push the chairs back in under the island and move the coffee table back to where it should be. You even go so far as to fluff the pillows on the couch and dust off the top of the TV. 

Once the living room has been returned to normal, you crash down onto the couch and lean against the arm, pulling out your phone. You tell yourself all you're going to do is check on some apps before going to see if Jake's done talking with Jade, but you're a terrible liar and you end up dozing off on the couch. 

When you wake up, the TV's on, but not nearly as loud as it was the previous morning. It's still music, but apparently the genre of the day is 80's rock ballads, so you get a (quiet) earful of Journey's Don't Stop Believin' as soon as you're capable of noticing the sound.

You move to swing your legs off the side of the couch only to discover that the coffee table has been pushed back to where it shouldn't be. You frown at it and rub at your eyes - or, try to rub at them after you remove the shades you slept in - and then look over to the large empty space on the floor. 

"What is it with you and moving around my furniture?" you grumble, pushing yourself upright and looking down at Jake, where he lies on the floor, wings up and out and slowly moving. 

"Good morning to you too," he says without looking at you. "I have to stretch it daily, or so I'm told."

You frown at him, then sigh and maneuver yourself off the couch, stepping over Jake's outstretched legs and making your way towards your room. "Okay," you say, through a yawn and a long stretch of your own, "while you do that, then, I'm going to take a shower."

"Safe travels," Jake says absently, and you grin a little before heading towards the bathroom. 

Half an hour later, you emerge in a cloud of steam and wet hair. It takes another half hour for you to restore your hair to pristine condition and to find some clean clothes, and as you finish changing into pants, there's a knock on your bedroom door. 

It opens a bit and Jake sticks his head through. "Are you - ah, you're done." 

You raise an eyebrow and he smiles, entering your room fully. "Yeah, finally fit for polite company," you say.

He smiles again crosses the room to you, hesitating before reaching out to touch your shoulder with one hand. He leans in and presses a soft kiss to your lips, a lingering thing, and when he pulls away you smile at him. He bites his lip, looking almost nervous, then brightens and says, "Oh! I wanted to thank you for allowing me to use your computer last night. I would have said so sooner, but you were already asleep." 

"No problem," you say. "You and Jade all caught up?"

He nods and his hand falls off your shoulder as he begins to gesture while talking. It's very Jake English of him, all these wild gestures while he describes his reunion with Jade, and you almost aren't paying attention when he says, "...So I'm going to meet up with her today, talk in person."

"Oh? When's that gonna happen?"

"Around noon. She said Dave was going to drive her and I'll be hitching a ride with the two of them to wherever it is they want to go." 

You nod, rubbing at the side of your face. "When are you leaving?"

"Half an hour, they said."

"Oh, shit, is it already almost noon?" You step over to your computer and jiggle the mouse so that the screen lights up and the little clock in the corner of your screen confirms the time. "Damn. I really slept in."

He laughs. "You did." He pauses, then adds, "You're welcome to come along today, if you'd like." 

You're tempted to say yes, if only to hang out with Jake and pester Dave, but instead you shake your head. "Nah. I'd like to, but I'm going to go get my truck repainted."

"Bright orange not cutting it?" Jake asks with a grin and you roll your eyes. 

"I figured black or silver would be easier. Blending in, y'know? Don't want anyone remembering that it was my truck at the facility and through every twist of fate realizing that if it was my truck, it was me. And, by extension, you, and if they really dig into it they might even find Dave or Roxy."

His grin fades a little and he nods rather seriously. "Ah, I see. Makes sense, then." He looks away, then looks back at you a little curiously. "While you're out, would you be able to pick up groceries?"

"Yeah, probably. You looking for anything in particular?"

He grins and grabs your hand, dragging you out to the kitchen. "I have a list."

You overdramatically groan. "Oh, no, he has a _list_."

You spend a good chunk of time with Jake in the kitchen, going over his "List of required foodstuffs!! Very important." (as the title on his phone proclaims). You make terrible jokes and he laughs and, shit, you find that you like making him laugh. You finish going over the list and move to the couch, elbowing each other and joking around while you wait.

Soon after, Jake's phone buzzes with a text from Jade. "They're here," he says, fingers tapping away at his screen as he responds. "I don't know how long this will take? Probably not longer than a few hours." 

You nod. "Okay. Can you convince Dave to give me a ride back here once you're done? My truck's gonna need to stay in the shop for a few days and I'd rather not try to carry home everything that's on this list."

"Will do," he promises, as he pulls on his shoes to go out. He finishes and heads to the door, waving goodbye to you. You wave back and then fall back against the couch, smiling up at the ceiling. This is nice, you decide. Really, really nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, this chapter did NOT want to be written. I sat down to write this yesterday, fully intent on doing so, and instead I ended up cleaning my room. That aside, the next few chapters will go into the post-Jade mysteries (HQ + the facility) and that should be fun. 
> 
> Other things to say include the Oglog M'Rubbit Brewery and Restaurant, which is heavily based on the Karl Strauss Brewery and Restaurant, which is exclusive to southern California. As this story doesn't take place in southern California, Oglog gets to make an appearance. (if you ever head down here, definitely try them out. they have very tasty food.)


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm not sure whether to congratulate you for escaping the system or lecture you on the necessity of paying your taxes."

It's been a week since you reconnected Jake and Jade, since you and Jake went on an actual date, since Roxy's mom died, and since your truck went into the shop. Jake tells you as much over breakfast, then follows it up with how he and Jade are going out for lunch to celebrate. 

"Week-anniversary?" you ask, frowning around a spoonful of cereal.

"Well, why not? Nothing stopping us!"

"If you keep taking her out to eat and buying weird groceries, you'll run out of money. That'll stop you."

He frowns back at you and says, "No, I won't. She can pay."

You gasp and playfully place a hand over your heart. "Making the lady pay? Shame on you, Jake English."

He laughs and pushes your shoulder, then turns away to put the nearly empty cereal box in the cabinet. "She's not a lady, she's my cousin."

"Don't be mean to your lady cousin." You finish off your cereal and swish your spoon around in the little milk that remains. "Seriously though, how come you haven't run out yet?"

"Ah, well," he starts, turning around to lean on the counter. "I, uh, when my grandma died, she left everything to me. And... everything was quite a lot. I kept some, sold some, donated some, and then moved in with Jade. Between the two of us, we have enough to last us a while."

"...Taxes? Gas money? Groceries? There has to be something. It can't have been that much," you say, pushing the bowl to him so he can set it in the sink. 

"I can fly, Dirk," he laughs. "Don’t need gas money for that." He hums as he fills the bowl with water, then continues. "Between me and Jade, groceries were covered without much worry. And, well, there was a lot. Honestly, we spend the most money on guns and pumpkin seeds, and that doesn't do too much to our... ah, supply."

"What about those taxes, though." He's silent and you sigh. "Jake, do you pay taxes?"

"...No?"

"I'm not sure whether to congratulate you for escaping the system or lecture you on the necessity of paying your taxes."

He waves a hand at you as if to say 'don't worry about it, it's fine' and you shake your head with a sigh. "It's perfectly all right," he argues, pushing off the counter as you stand up. 

"Yeah, yeah, okay," you say, leaving the kitchen and going into your room. You go to a basket of clothes on the floor and rummage around, coming up with a clean shirt that you change into. "What time are you meeting up with Jade?" you call, so that Jake can hear you from the kitchen.

"Sometime around 11. She's coming with Aradia." Jake appears in your doorway, leaning against the frame as you pull on your shoes. "Oh, why don't you come, too? It could be a right party!" 

"I'd love to," you say, standing up and grabbing your phone and shades off your desk, "but I have to go to HQ. Bills won't pay themselves." With a meaningful look, you add, "Taxes won't pay themselves, either. Because some of us pay taxes. Like adults."

He laughs, then looks thoughtfully at the wall behind you. "I'm still not entirely sure why you work for them," he says. You pause in pulling on your jacket and stare at him. He looks blankly at you, then says, "What?"

"Bro," you say, "bro. We had an entire heart-to-heart chat about the reasoning behind my job. It was very emotionally charged, there might have been tears, and you saw me shirtless."

"I don't reme - oh. Oh, right, right." He pauses and you're tempted to tease him about remembering you shirtless, but he speaks again before you can. "Still, though. Why can't you just... quit?"

You shrug your jacket on fully, walking past Jake and to the front door. "I'm considering it," you say. "But right now, a job's a job, and I want to talk it over with Dave before I do anything. It is, after all, his fault, if we're gonna point fingers. They better be nice fingers, though, I won't stand for any -"

"Rambling," Jake calls, still leaning in the doorway.

"I'm funny and what I say is funny and you should listen to me," you say, opening the door. You turn around and ask, "Text me when you're done with Jade?"

"Will do."

You smile and wave goodbye before locking the door behind you and hurrying down the stairs. When you get to the parking lot, it takes you a few minutes longer than you'll ever admit to find your truck - you're so used to looking for the only bright orange vehicle in the lot that now, with your truck newly painted silver, it doesn't click that that's yours. But you find it (eventually) and make it to HQ without any more trouble, walking past the receptionist and the doorman and making your way up to the seventh floor.

Despite being an office building, this is the only floor that has any actual offices, though it's mostly cubicles. Each person that works for HQ gets one - unless they're like Roxy and Sollux and mostly hang out with all the computers down on the third floor. Your own cubicle sits in the far corner, with an old desktop and a filing cabinet being the only things of importance inside. As you drape your jacket over the back of your chair, you reach over to pull a few pieces of paper off the wall of your cubicle where they had been thumb-tacked. 

You fall into your chair and glance over the papers - flyers advertising a smoothie place down the street and something advertising "sensitivity training" - and then push them to the corner of your desk. As you wait for the desktop to turn on you consider pulling the papers back to make paper airplanes, but instead you log in and pull up a file folder named "bullshit busywork". An accurate title, all things considered, since it's full of reports that you've been meaning to finish and submit. So you methodically crack your knuckles and get to work. 

By the time you next check the clock, you've made a dent in the folder and you're sure you've made some poor HQ worker very happy. More reports to look over. Very exciting. As such, feeling like you deserve a break, you check your phone. Your screen lights up to show a missed message from Jake, informing you that he's gone out with Jade now, have fun at work, et cetera et cetera, he can bring you back something if you want but they only have sandwiches. You smile and pause to respond, giving him the okay on the sandwich, only looking up when you hear someone next to you clear their throat. 

"Wha - shit, Rose, what are you doin' there?" you glance up quickly and try to hide your phone. You're aware that you've technically done nothing wrong, HQ has no policy about using your phone at work, but still you feel as though you have something to hide. Especially since HQ would throw a fit if they realized you were texting your mutant boyfriend who was supposed to be dead.

"Waiting for you to notice me, so it would seem," she answers, smiling slightly. She steps away for a moment and returns with a chair, no doubt stolen from a nearby cubicle, and sits down carefully, crossing her ankle over her knee. 

"Huh," you say, turning off your phone and slowly pushing it to the other side of your desk. "Well, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

She's silent, steepling her fingers and looking at you with a curious expression. You wait for her to speak, drumming your fingers against your leg, and eventually she says, "Roxy told you what happened last week, I assume?"

"Yeah, she told me. I'm sorry about what happened to you guys. It can't be easy. Are you okay?"

She nods once, almost noncommittally. "I'm fine. It wasn't as though her death was unexpected, though I don't think Roxy had noticed. Which only added to her shock when it happened." She pauses, then looks between her fingers and you.

"...Is something wrong with Roxy?" you ask.

She's silent, which is all the answer you need. 

"Shit. What's going on?"

"I'm aware that Roxy talked to you after the funeral," she says instead of answering your question. "She was upset and disappeared and when she showed up at the house again, she seemed much better, and told me she had talked to a friend." She pauses again, then says, "Roxy hasn't shown up to work since we came back."

"That's not that weird," you start, but Rose shakes her head.

"Casey called me last night," she says. "Roxy has been spending her time at their bar. Casey tells me that Roxy seems happy enough, but that may just be the alcohol in her talking."

You rub at your eyes as a memory of previous conversations with Roxy, all concerning her mother, pass through your head, then look at Rose, very seriously. "Tell me if I'm overstepping any bounds," you start, and she nods. "But do you think she's trying to take after your mom?"

"It... had occurred to me," she says, slowly. "I'm more than a little worried. And I don't…" she sighs and props one elbow up on her leg, resting her chin in her hand and closing her eyes. "This is hard for Roxy. It's hard for me, too. I don't want to try and tell Roxy that she should just get over it. Hell, I don't even know if she _is_ trying her hand at mimicry, or... But by trying to imitate mom, she's slipping into something that - "

She breaks off and bites at her lip, then composes herself and opens her eyes to look at you. "Can you talk to her in my place? I don’t want... I don't want to seem callous."

You nod. "Sure. I'll drop by today, once I get done with this."

"Thank you, Dirk." Rose smiles at you, looking relieved. She stands and moves to push her chair back to the cubicle it came from, then says, "I'm... sorry to drag you into this."

"Don't be - I haven't been dragged anywhere. Roxy's my friend. I'm happy to help. And," you add, glancing at her, "you are too, Rose. If something comes up, I'm free to talk."

She smiles at you again, looking grateful, and disappears around the wall. You wait a few moments, to see if she comes back, and turn back to your computer when she doesn't. 

Another couple of hours pass and you get through about half of the reports before deciding to call it a day. When it comes to reports, HQ pays per report filed - which can be useful when there's no work you want to do available. And with the way you've been feeling about mutants and HQ lately, there is definitely no work you want to do available. 

You turn your computer off, grab your jacket, and open up a message to Jake as you enter the elevator. 

**[Di-stri]** Hey, I'm gonna swing by Roxy's on the way home. Rose asked me to check up on her. [1:28]  
**[Jake]** Oh ok well im heading back myself. Is roxy ok? [1:31]  
**[Di-stri]** … Maybe? [1:32]  
**[Jake]** That doesnt sound good. [1:32]  
**[Di-stri]** Well, that's why I'm going over. Making sure she is okay. [1:35]  
**[Di-stri]** Driving now. I'll text you when I'm heading back? [1:36]  
**[Jake]** Yeah that sounds good. Ill put your sandwich away. [1:37]  
**[Di-stri]** You're the best. [1:37]  
**[Jake]** :) [1:38]

You smile and drop your phone on the passenger seat, then pull out of the HQ parking lot and onto the busy streets. As you near Roxy's apartment, you think back to your conversation with Rose and pull into the lot in front of Casey's, instead of the one outside the apartment complex. 

It's nearly empty - while people do head to Casey's for lunch and the like, it only really gets busy about an hour before sundown. The inside of the bar is much the same, which only makes it easier to find Roxy where she sits at the bar, her hair bright against the dark backdrop.

Casey stands behind the bar and looks up at you as you make your way over. They smile a little, then raise a glass and an eyebrow in question. You shake your head - you're driving home, no sense having a drink - and you take a seat on the stool next to Roxy as Casey nods and turns around to put the glass down.

"Hey," you say, and she jumps a little.

"Shit, I - Dirk?" She blinks owlishly at you, looking confused, then smiles a little. "What're you doing here?"

"Sitting at a bar," you say, shifting in your seat a little so that you're facing her, one arm resting on the countertop. 

She laughs a little and nudges you with her elbow. "Well, duh. But what're you doin' at the bar?"

"You've been gone for a week and in the few days you've been back, I haven't seen you. A few days without my best bud? The horror of it all has scarred me. Irreparable damage."

She grins, then looks away and meets Casey's eye at the other end of the bar. She gestures to the glass sitting in front of her and Casey nods, grabbing a bottle from under the bar and heading over to refill it. 

"Well," Roxy says, taking a drink from her glass - you know that's not water, damn it, Rose, why did she have to be right - "I'm here. Hoorah, you've found me, no more horrorify - horrifin -" She scrunches up her nose, then moves on with her sentence, "- for you."

"Exactly." You pause, waiting until she's taken another drink. "Hey, Rox, what's that you're drinking?"

She lifts her glass up, closer to her face, and frowns at it. "Brown, sorta," she says, eventually, seemingly unaware that a color is not a name. 

"What kind of, uh, brown?"

"The good kind."

You raise an eyebrow and Roxy grins at you, then waves her glass around a little. She's careful not to spill any, but manages to look far drunker than she actually is in the process. "What can I say?" she asks, finishing it off. "It tastes good. That's all tha'matters, right?"

"I... sometimes," you say, hesitantly. "But it doesn't explain why you're drinking in the middle of the day."

She looks suspiciously at you and points at your chest with one finger. "Are you interro - interrogating me?"

"Yes," you say, trying to lighten the conversation. You straighten up in your seat a little and smile, trying to seem as un-serious as you can get. "There has been a terrible crime and you are the prime suspect."

She gasps dramatically and raises a hand to cover her heart. "Who, me?" You nod and she grins, but then it falters and she looks away. 

She's silent, then, and turns her glass around on the counter in little circles. 

"Roxy?" you ask, finally. 

"What? Oh. Right." She sighs and pushes the glass away, leaning over to rest her head on her arms. "I'm drinking," she says, "what else would I be doin' at a bar?"

"They do serve food here," you point out, and Roxy shrugs as best she can in her current position. "But why are you drinking in the middle of the day?"

"Because I'm sad." She mumbles her words, softly enough that you have to lean in to hear her.

"About... about your mom?"

She looks at you from the corner of her eye, then lets her gaze fall back to the counter. That's all the answer you need. 

"Roxy," you say, reaching over to touch her arm, lightly enough that she could shrug it off if she wanted to, "I'm not sure drinking away your sadness is gonna be as effective as you think."

"Can't hurt to try," she says with a frown. 

"Could hurt to try."

"Could _not_."

You steal her frown and she grins instead, looking a lot brighter than she did a few moments ago. "Roxy," you say, and she sits up straight and spins around on her stool so that she can lean with her back to the counter. 

"It makes me feel better," she says, eventually. "That's a good thing. Can't that be all that matters?"

"It could," you agree, "but it isn't."

She sighs and shakes her head. "I can try."

You're struck with a fondness for Roxy, even with all her stubbornness, and you nudge her with your elbow. "I can't stop you," you say, "but I do think it's a bad idea to... drown your sorrows like this."

She glances at you and you pause, then say, softly, "Talk to me. What're you thinking?"

"That... sorry, Dirky, but I don't really wanna talk about this right now."

You nod and shake your head. "Don't be sorry. That's totally fine." You push off from your stool and look at her. "But hey, if you do, I am here. And if you don't want to talk to me, AR's here too, much as I wish he wasn't." She smiles a little at that and you smile back.

"I... yeah. Thanks." She pauses, then sighs and looks back at Casey before looking at you again. "I think... I'm gonna go hang out up there." She gestures with one hand toward the staircase on the other side of the room, the one that leads to the top of the building, where you and Jake disappeared to during the party. 

"Change of scenery might do you good." You're tempted to ask her if she'd mind company, but... you think you've done all you can for her right now. It's up to her to reach out to you later if she wants to talk. Or, well, Rose to tell you that something's gone downhill. You hope Rose won't tell you something's gone downhill. "I'll be heading off, then. Don't fall off the building, you hear?"

She smiles again and nods, then stands and takes a step towards you. She looks as though she's debating whether or not to do something, then wraps her arms around you in a hug. You don't do anything for a moment, then hug her back; she smells a little like the bar does, a testament to how much time she's spent here lately. 

"Thanks," she says, so quiet you only just barely hear it, and then she pulls away and heads towards the stairs. You watch her go, then glance at Casey and wave goodbye as you exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the late update. Between my last concert, finals, graduation, college stuff, and enough projects to make me want to scream, the past month has royally kicked my ass. Good news is: summertime should allow me more time for more frequent updates, especially since I've mostly gotten the ending figured out. By the end, all the separate storylines should come together and wrap up nicely; between what's going on with Dirk, Jake, Jade, HQ, and the facility, what's happening with Roxy, and the reappearance of Tavros and his family/their meeting-gruop, it should be a fun ride.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with dead things, but there comes a time in every man's life where he's gotten all the enjoyment out of staring at skulls and preserved rats in jars that he's ever gonna get." You take a drink and add, "I reached that point in the tenth grade."

When you reach your apartment, you're greeted to a wing in the face. You don't quite know where the wing came from - one moment you were closing the front door and reaching over to set down your keys and the next thing you know you're inhaling a faceful of feathers. Which is, all things considered, unexpected.

"Dirk?" There's a scrambling sound as you blink from behind your mostly askew glasses and Jake's wings seem to shrink as he quickly turns to you. "Shit, sorry, I wasn't expecting - "

"It's fine," you say, interrupting him, as you reach up to take off your glasses. Not like they were doing much good on your face, unless your eyes have suddenly shifted several inches up and to the left. "Just a little surprised." You pause and glance around the apartment - the coffee table is where it's supposed to be, nothing looks out of place, but there are several feathers littering the ground around Jake's feet. "What are you doing?"

"Stretching," Jake says, looking a little guilty. 

You nod in a knowing sort of way and walk past Jake to kick your shoes off by the kitchen counter. "Ah, of course. Stretching. Very hazardous to the health of those around the stretcher."

He frowns at you, unsure if you're joking, until one side of your mouth twitches into a lopsided smile. He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, retracting his wings ever further. "Your sandwich is in the fridge, sir smartass," he says with a slight laugh, turning around to pick his shirt up from the couch. 

You pause and watch his back as his wings fully retract. It's interesting, in an odd sort of way; his wings don't exactly go underneath his skin or anything similar, but they do fold up incredibly well and give the illusion that they've disappeared somewhere around his spine. You're reminded of when he saw your back and commented on how bare it looked with wings - his looks busy in the way an I-Spy page looks busy, like there's too much going on at once but if you were to take some of the pieces out it'd look not quite right.

You're still looking at him when he finishes shrugging on his shirt and turns back to you, looking as though he's about to say something but thinking better of it as he catches your eye. You feel part of your face heat up and quickly open the refrigerator door, grabbing a can of soda and a white paper bag off a shelf, grateful the door blocks you from view. 

"See something you like?" Jake teases, and you hear him walk over and move one of the stools away, presumably to sit. 

"No," you say, "you're quite unlikeable." You close the door and set the sandwich bag on the counter across from Jake, then ask, "What'd you pick up?"

"Smoked ham and swiss. Aradia said it was the best on the menu."

"Aradia says a lot of things," you say, opening your drink and reaching into the bag, taking out half of the sandwich, before leaning forwards to rest your elbows against the counter. "Like, for instance, that dead things are cool."

Jake looks at you, confused, and you shrug around a bite of your sandwich - which is, actually, quite good. You'll have to ask him where the sandwich place is. "Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with dead things, but there comes a time in every man's life where he's gotten all the enjoyment out of staring at skulls and preserved rats in jars that he's ever gonna get." You take a drink and add, "I reached that point in the tenth grade."

"That's oddly specific," Jake laughs. "I must ask - why then, exactly?"

"Dave happened."

He looks confused and you sigh. "Dave's been interested in weird stuff for a long time. He was that kid that poked around in the dirt looking for dead bodies or fossils or whatever and collected piles of dead bugs from the dustiest corners of the house. Once he reached middle school - this was tenth grade for me - he graduated from dead bugs to dead animals and started collecting jars of crow feathers he found on the ground, little mouse skeletons, stuff like that."

You pause to eat some of your sandwich, then continue. "Fast forward a bit and you've got him running around the streets looking for roadkill and finding himself in all the creepy stores downtown, searching for bones and skins and stuff. He met Aradia in one of those shops. Something, something, they reached for the same yellowish bone, their eyes met, and they became besties, cue dramatic music."

He grins at you, then asks, "Bonding over their mutual love of the morbid?"

"It's not morbid, exactly," you start, frowning. "Just… kinda weird. But, they both apparently get a kick out of talking about... degreasing. Shit, I don't know. Bone stuff."

"Bone stuff." Jake nods as though this is the most important thing you've said all day, then says, "For the record, though, skulls are rather nifty."

"Nifty? Cool, maybe, or even neat, but nifty?"

"Yes, nifty. They are! I used to have a shirt with one on it. Wore it all the time." He leans forwards a bit to rest his chin in his hand, then says, "I think I still have it somewhere."

"A relic of times gone by?"

"Something like that." He looks fondly at the wall as he thinks. "I knew several friends of mine that had the same idea - not with skulls, mind you, but with shirts like that. Jane had one... it had a monster on it, I believe. And Jade had several, though I most often saw her in one with an atom on the front." 

"You could have formed a club," you say, unwrapping the second half of your sandwich. 

"That would have been grand, I'm sure." He grins at you and you roll your eyes, listening to him as he tells you about Jade's shirts - something about a device she was trying to invent that would have allowed her to change them instantaneously. Despite Jake's habit of going off on a tangent, he's still pretty great at telling stories. His sound effects and sweeping hand gestures, which would look corny on most other people, suit him rather well, and you find yourself more caught up in this tale of the time Jade nearly blew herself up trying to modify her wardrobe than you thought you'd have been.

Jake's phone starts making angry-sounding beeps as you turn around to throw away the trash from your lunch. You wipe your hands off on your pants and turn back to grab your drink, watching as Jake moves the phone up to his ear with a curious expression. 

"Jane, yes, hello!" he says. "Is someth-"

He moves the phone away from his ear as a torrent of shouting comes out of the speakers. It pauses and Jake hurriedly moves the phone back and says, "Jane, Jane, hold your horses! I can't understand a thing you said!"

He glances at you as Jane speaks again. "Yes, he's here, why?" He waits for her to answer, then moves the phone away from his mouth and asks, "She'd like to go on speaker so you can hear her, too."

"...Okay?"

Jake pushes some buttons and sets his phone down on the kitchen counter, then says, "You're on speaker now, Jane."

She's silent, then asks, "Dirk?"

"The one and only. What's up?"

"Who do you work for, exactly?"

"HQ."

"No, who, not what. The person, or people even, behind it."

"...Huh." You pause. "I don’t know."

"I see. Well. I know who's behind my company." The words would come across as condescending if only her voice didn't sound so tightly controlled, as though she was stopping herself from showing her emotions. "Her name is Betty."

"I didn’t realize this was the 50's," you mutter, quiet enough that only Jake can hear you. He smiles a little, then glances back down at the phone when Jane continues. 

"She called me in to her office today, you see," Jane's saying. "You know I work overseeing a lot of our... projects. Betty wanted to let me know that she, and I quote, ' _loved the shit I was doin'_ '. She wanted to, um, crank it up a notch and as such, offered me a promotion."

"Jane, that sounds like good news," Jake says, looking confused. "I thought you'd been hoping for a promotion!"

"I was," Jane answers, "but I asked her why she wanted to 'step it up' and she went on this... rant! This terrible, sick explanation of why she wants us to do these things to people!" She takes a breath, then says, "I won't go into what she said exactly. It was... an experience. And not one I wish to repeat! But it boiled down to her absolute hatred of this... English man."

You glance at Jake and raise an eyebrow. "English like, Jake English? Or English like, pip pip cheerio." you ask. 

"His name is English. Some... lord. No relation to Jake that I know of." Jake looks understandably relieved at this. "I don't know the details of who he is or why she hates him, but she seems to think that with the mutants she has created she can... I'm going to guess she wants to kill him."

"And this is worse than before, because..."

"Dirk, before we were doing scientific experiments on willing volunteers! I thought we were doing something radically new to see what humans could become for the sheer discovery of it! Not creating a private army for a woman with anger issues!"

Jane takes a deep breath. "Look. I'm just - I can't believe this. I can't believe her. I... I should have expected this, shouldn't I have? After hearing about what happened at the facility in your city and to poor Meulin?" Her voice, before so tightly controlled and angry, turns sad.

"Jane, no," Jake says, pulling the phone a little closer to him. "You didn't know. You can't blame yourself for something that happened somewhere out of your control."

Jane's quiet for a moment, then she sighs. "I'm not sure if I believe you, Jake. Still, though. I figured you should know." She pauses, then adds, "I think I'm going to tell her I'll... think about the promotion. Maybe I'll find out something else, like who this English guy is."

"All right," Jake says. "Thank you, Jane." 

Jake says his goodbyes and ends the call, then looks down at his phone. He starts absently spinning it around on the countertop, but knocks it sideways when you clear your throat to get his attention. 

"Jake?"

"Hm? Oh." He pauses and pushes his phone back to where it was, then sighs and folds his hands over it. "Jane said some... surprising things."

"Yeah. She did." You finish your drink and toss the can into the bin under the sink, then ask, "Are you going to tell the others?"

"Others - oh, Tavros and the rest, you mean?" You nod and he taps his fingers against the counter as he thinks. "Well," he starts, "they really ought to know, wouldn't you say?"

You laugh a little. "Sure, I say."

He hums an agreement, then picks his phone up and starts tapping out a message. "I'll ask Tavros when their next meeting is."

You move to the couch and flip through channels until you land on some old FRIENDS reruns. Jake joins you after a few minutes, relaxing next to you, but pulls his phone out after only a minute or two.

He scans the text message and you glance over at him, wondering if you should pause the TV. "Tavros says that there isn't one for a while," Jake says, sounding a little disappointed. 

"Tell him that it's kinda important and ask if he could call an emergency meeting?"

Jake nods slowly, then starts tapping out his message. When Tavros responds, he smiles a little in relief. "Okay. Tavros says he'll try to get everyone together for... three days from now? What's that?"

"Friday."

"Right. Pencil us in for Friday, then." He pauses, then asks, "Should we bring Jade?"

You shrug. "If you want to ask her and she's down to do it, go for it."

The next three days pass. Jake seems anxious and texts Jane as often as he can, and while she stays civil, it's not hard to see that Jake's constant questioning and worrying is starting to wear on her. You distract him by trying to teach him how to beat Squarewave in a rap battle and pushing him to go hang out with Jade, who seems as eager as Jake to go to the meeting - though she's far less anxious. 

She arrives at your building and the three of pile into your truck to head down to the warehouse from before. Jake seems equally excited and worried, bouncing up and down in his seat, and Jade's quiet sitting in the back. 

"Bro," you say, quietly, pulling out of your parking spot, "I didn't realize that seat was actually a trampoline."

"I - oh." He stops bouncing and instead starts tapping his fingers against his leg, looking out the window. "I'm just... they all deserve to find out, you know? Rufioh and his father, Meulin... they deserve to know why this was done to them." He pauses, then adds, "I wanted to tell them as soon as I found out, but I figured it'd be better when I can tell them all at once. In person. This doesn't strike me as the kind of thing to tell someone over the phone."

You nod your agreement and park a block away from the warehouse. "Yeah. I get what you mean. Three days isn't that much of a difference."

He nods and the three of you hurry down the street and into the warehouse. It's as quiet and dimly lit as the last time you were though, but there's a few more people. Nepeta and Equius stand near Meulin and Kurloz, chatting silently in sign language, while Nepeta's mom stands nearby talking to a man you don't know. Tavros and his family are already sitting down, talking amongst themselves, though Rufioh seems more engrossed in his phone than the conversation. 

They all look over when your small group appears and Nepeta hurries over and beams at both you and Jake before looking curiously at Jade. "We were wondering when you'd show up," she says. "Tavros said you had something really important to say?"

"I do," Jake says. "Um. Why don't we all sit down?"

And so you all sit down. Jade ends up squished between Nepeta and Jake, but she doesn't seem to mind, introducing herself to Nepeta in a friendly sort of way and starting up a conversation while everyone else finds their seats. They hush up when Mr. Nitram clears his throat, looking at Jake in a pointed sort of way.

Jake straightens up a little in his seat and clears his throat before speaking. "I... Uh, hello. Well." He pauses, then launches right into it.

"A week or so ago, maybe a little longer, Dirk and I got into the facility here in the city with the help of a friend of ours. We found Meulin there and - well, we got her out, obviously, or else I'd be wondering her the lady sitting over there is." He gestures towards Meulin and she turns slightly towards him to smile, before looking back to Kurloz, who's interpreting for her. 

"We... we know that the facility here is not the only one. A friend of mine works at a facility closer to my home, which is. Er, not here." He pauses, then says, "Several years ago she told me of this program, designed to... she described it as pushing the limits of humanity by, well, mutating it. I convinced her to allow me to volunteer for the program. I know that's very different than what you all had to go through, and... I'm sorry." He pauses again to take a breath and collect his thoughts. "That's not really what I'm trying to say, though. My friend has come across some... information that she's been passing on to us."

He seems nervous, so you decide to help him out. "She found out why her company's making mutants," you say, and Jake looks at you a little gratefully. "The woman who runs the company has a grudge against the man who runs the company I work for and wants a... private army or a task force or something, something to take him down."

"...So, mutants," the man who was with Nepeta's mom says, frowning at you. "Mutants were her solution to a man she didn't like."

"Seems that way," you say, shrugging.

"Your friend didn't know this beforehand?" Rufioh asks, looking confused. "Like, no one told her or anything like that?"

Jake shakes his head. "She only just found out. She knew that other facilities existed and were also running similar programs, but as far as she knew, all the people involved were volunteers."

There's some soft murmuring from around the table. Most of the mutants look unsettled - you can see Meulin's tail flicking back and forth as she signs to Kurloz and Mr. Nitram has steepled his fingers as he looks down at the table, mulling this all over. Jade and Nepeta are back to talking, but this time their chatting seems less get-to-know-each-other and more like a focused discussion. Nepeta's mom leans in close to the man from earlier and they whisper amongst each other with a few glances towards Jake and Meulin.

You glance at Jake and lean towards him, whispering, "What now?"

He looks at you, then at the rest of the table. "I don't know," he says, biting at his lip. "I... do we rally them for a fight?"

"Against the facility and Jane's company?" You look doubtfully at the group around you. "Bro, I don't think we could take them on." He glances at you and you shrug. "Even if we brought in, I dunno, Roxy and Dave and Aradia, we'd still only be, what, ten people against a giant company?"

"Well, the only real problem is this Betty lady that runs the company, right? And the... English fellow who runs your company." Jake frowns. "We could..."

"Jake?"

You and Jake both glance up at his name, looking at the man who spoke. "Yes, uh." He flounders a little, trying to figure out what to call the man. 

"Vantas," he supplies.

Jake nods and the man - Vantas, though whether that's his first or last name, you can't tell - continues. "You said that the woman wants a private group to take down the man she dislikes," he says, leaning forwards. "Is it possible that she could see reason and shut down this program of hers?" He pauses, then adds, "Does this man know about the mutants she's creating?"

"Jane - that's Jake's friend - says that the man's name is English. Lord or something," you say. "And, yeah, he knows. He's been... paying people to get rid of the mutants he finds out about." You glance nervously at Nepeta and she nods, barely, as though to say 'yeah let's not tell them we work for the dude. There have been enough startling revelations tonight'. 

"As for reason..." Jake trails off, thinking. "I don't know. Jane was told straight from the horse's mouth and described the woman as... ranting. I'd have to ask her whether or not she's reasonable, but I'd hazard to say... um, no."

Vantas sighs. "I see. If you could contact your friend for more information, that would be much appreciated."

Jake nods and it's quiet for a few minutes before Mr. Nitram speaks up. "I believe we all need some time to process this information. Thank you for telling us, Jake." There's a few nods and murmured words of agreement before he speaks again. "Would everyone be able to meet again in a few days' time?" More murmurs and nods. "All right," Nitram says, nodding himself. "We will meet then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Instead of working on this when I was supposed to, I created a timeline of when everything happens in this story. The most useful piece of information from that timeline: so far, this story has encompassed about five months of in-story time.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are those notes? You didn't bring notes. Were you supposed to bring notes?

The next few days pass agonizingly slowly - that is, if you go by Jake's definition of "agonizingly slowly". Since talking to the others and telling them what he knows, a weight's lifted from his shoulders, only to be replaced by a restlessness. He wants to, and you quote, "bring the fight to the bastards". 

"Jake," you say, after listening to him mutter about fighting and 'what he won't do to them'. "Jake, look. The meeting's tomorrow. We'll be figuring out what to do then."

He looks towards you, then away again, and you continue. "If they decide that we can't do anything, well, we can't take on two companies of well-paid mercenaries and scientists and whatever on our own. Even if we get help from Dave or Roxy."

"What about Jane?" he asks, turning back to you. 

"Or Jane. We're only a couple people. This is a huge company."

He sighs. "I know. I know that, it's just - " He breaks off to glare at the wall, as though it personally insulted him. "I'm not saying we have to take it all down at once," he starts, sounding remarkably composed for someone burning a metaphorical hole with his eyes through your drywall. "Bits and pieces, at first, or a quick fight against the big lady herself. Send them into chaos."

You swivel on your stool and lean against the kitchen counter. "We... we could. But what about HQ? They've been fighting Jane's company forever, from what we know. Take the facility and Betty out of the picture and HQ will swoop in and..." You trail off and frown, trying to collect your thoughts.

"And?"

"And - I don't know what they'd do, actually. All I know is that they don't like mutants, but I have no idea what their problem with them is. They might just only be in it to spite Betty. I don't know. Spite is a hell of a motivator."

Jake's quiet and his glare has turned into a thoughtful frown. "Could we find out?"

You raise an eyebrow. "Would you like me to send a letter to Mr. English, head of HQ, and politely ask him what the fuck his damage is?"

Jake laughs and shakes his head. "If you'd be so kind."

You grin at him and stand up, walking over to couch and sitting down next to him. "Hey," you say, "you realize we'll figure something out, right? We're not just going to sit back and do nothing." 

"Well, you might," Jake says, with a smile. "I'd storm them myself, given half a chance."

You gasp and clap your hand to your chest, as though you're actually offended, and pointedly look away. "And after I offered to help you, this is how you treat me," you say, with a few sniffs for dramatic effect.

Jake simply laughs and nudges your shoulder, pausing only for a moment before moving in a little closer. 

 

After that, tomorrow comes faster than you would have expected. You and Jake swing by Dave's apartment to pick up Jade, who proceeds to outline her plan for a very large, jury-rigged... okay, honestly? You think it's supposed to be a gun, but you've never seen a gun that looks like that. Jake, however, is all over it, looking like a kid in a candy store. 

As you park - closer to the warehouse; you've given up most of your caution, sure that if anything were to happen you could take it and sure that you are a lazy ass and don't want to walk any further than you have to. Jake shrugs his jacket on, adjusting bits and pieces; with his wing now fixed, he could probably just hide his wings under a slightly baggy t-shirt, but he seems to like the jacket. Jade, on the other hand, when Jake quietly asks how she plans to hide her mutations, produces a white headband from a pocket in her skirt.

"Or, you know," she says, as you all enter the warehouse, "I could just say I'm going to a furry convention." 

You try your hardest not to laugh at that. You do. You really, really do. 

It does not work.

With a look of confused concern, Jake glances back at you and Jade before entering the wider area where the group gathers. It's a lot emptier; for a moment, you wonder if you're early, before Vantas - the man from the meeting a few days ago - says, "The Leijon family is a bit busy." 

Jake nods and sits down, across from Vantas, and you and Jade follow. Mr. Nitram and Rufioh are sitting next to Vantas, looking down at something on Rufioh's phone, and you speak up to ask, "Where's Tavros?"

"He had a late call from a client," Mr. Nitram says, looking up only briefly to catch your eyes before glancing back down at the phone. You nod slowly and cross your arms, feeling a little uncomfortable without Tavros and Nepeta, the two people you know best in this group.

Vantas waits a few moments before Rufioh slips his phone back into his pocket and clears his throat.

"Thank you both - ah, pardon, all - for coming," Vantas says, eyes glancing over your small band. "Jake and Dirk I know, but you are...?"

Jade grins and waves at him. "Jade! I'm Jake's cousin. Nice to meet you!"

Vantas smiles back, but it fades as he looks down at - are those notes? You didn't bring notes. Were you supposed to bring notes?

"Well, there's some minor things to mention first," Vantas says, running a finger across his notes. "For one, Delilah - that would be Nepeta and Meulin's mother - has asked me to repeat her sincere thanks for bringing back her daughter." Jake grins and Vantas continues. "Meulin herself wanted to send you cookies, but didn't what kind you'd like." He looks up expectantly and you and Jake share a surprised look. 

"Oh, well," Jake starts, "that's really not necessary -"

"He likes the cookie dough better than the finished cookie," Jade interrupts with a wide grin and a laugh. "Chocolate chip, especially."

You try to hide your laugh as Jake's face becomes tinged with red and he glares at his cousin, who simply looks at him with an innocent expression on her face. 

"Chocolate chip it is," Vantas says, writing it down with a smile of his own. "And I believe Dante has something to add...?"

"Ah, yes," says Mr. Nitram, folding his hands on the table. "Jake, Tavros would like to remind you to stretch your wing out twice daily. And he would like to add that if you attempt to fly on it until he has come to check it in person, he will be very upset with you."

As far as threats go, it's not a very good one, but Jake nods rather seriously. "The thought never crossed my mind."

(This is a lie. While he was being antsy about going to the meeting, he kept trying to convince you to come with him to the roof of your apartment building so he could try to lift off the ground. You had no less than three heated conversations about why that would be a very bad thing to do, but you persevered.)

You shoot Jake a look and he pointedly looks away from you, the corners of his mouth tilting up ever so slightly in a barely-there smile.

Mr. Nitram nods once before Vantas speaks up again. "With that all said, we need to talk."

Quietly, you shift so that you can lean closer to Jake and whisper, "Is he going to break up with us?"

Jake tries to hide a laugh and fails, considering the look Vantas shoots him. Jake coughs to try and cover it and shoots you a look, but the slight grin on his face shows that he's not truly upset. 

"Last time we met, I said we'd need time to process the information." There's some nods and murmurs of assent around the group. "Yesterday I was contacted by Delilah's family and by the Nitrams, and there has been... a general agreement." He shuffles his notes as he pauses and you see Jake tense out of the corner of your eye. 

Vantas sighs and looks up. "Look. We're a small group of people that met only because we wanted a place to talk about things - mutations, missing family members, and the like - in a safe place. We're not fighters. We have no way to get to these company leaders that you've told us about and no way to do anything."

Though Vantas said that there was agreement between the families that frequented the meetings, Mr. Nitram shifts in his seat with a bothered expression. "What Vantas means to say," he says gruffly, causing Vantas to quickly look at him, "is that while we could get to these leaders, we'd almost certainly fail, despite whatever damage we could cause."

Vantas is quiet, looking at Mr. Nitram, who is pointedly looking away from him. "Yes," he says finally, "we couldn't do any real damage." 

He sighs again, looking a little annoyed. "We did consider a more... legal route. Protests, lawyers, the whole shebang. Nepeta pointed us in the direction of a friend of hers that she said was more than qualified to help us. The problem, however, is that we don't feel safe exposing ourselves."

You glance at Jake and he shrugs, looking as confused as you feel. "What do you mean, exposing yourselves?"

"Well, we hide our wings," Rufioh says, fiddling with his phone. "It's not so hard to do, once you get used to it, right... and we've never really told anyone that we've got 'em. So when we'd go and picket and riot or whatever, we'd have to go and show off our backs as proof that they fucked us up... and we're not real keen on doin' that."

"And even if you were to come clean, they could send people after you," Jade says, causing everyone to turn to her. "Which is a risk you're not willing to take."

"Precisely," Vantas says, clasping his hands together. "If you'd be willing to wait - and I don't know how long, but it wouldn't be soon - then I believe we might be able to muster up some sort of... force, if you will. But that would take time and coordination and at the moment, I believe we have other matters to attend to."

Jake nods, gaze focused on the wall in front of him, and a relieved-looking Vantas quickly turns to Jade in an attempt to change the topic.

"Hey," you say, leaning towards Jake. "You're glaring at the wall. You okay?"

He blinks, distracted, and glances to you. "Peachy."

"Peachy, says the man through gritted teeth."

"It's... I'm fine, Dirk, really. Consider my teeth un-gritted." He runs his hands over his arms, crossing and uncrossing them in an anxious sort of way. "I suppose I need time to process this."

You exit the meeting a few minutes later feeling... you don't know. Jake looks troubled still, but you expected that; after hearing Vantas' talk of raising forces and needing time, you know Jake couldn't be happy. He wanted to break these companies and stop them from mutating any more people than they already had and he wanted to do it soon. And this isn't soon.

Jade and Jake have their heads together, whispering over the gun schematics Jade has unrolled in her lap. Jake looks up once you're halfway back to Dave's apartment and nudges Jade, which prompts her to look out the window. "Oh, hey, Dirk?"

You look back in the mirror and Jade asks, "Would it be all right if I spent the night at your place? Jake and I are trying to work some things out with this design."

"Fine by me," you say, and she smiles before going back to the paper.

As soon as you're home, Jake and Jade set up camp around the coffee table, using a couple coffee mugs and a shoe to hold the paper stretched out. You watch them for a few minutes, talking quietly but with large hand gestures, and leave for your room. 

You drop onto your chair and spin around a few times before stopping, slouched almost out of the seat and facing your bed. You don't know what to do. 

Well, no. You have an idea of what to do. But you aren't sure it'd even work. You frown at the bathroom door, just across from where you sit. Well, you might as well write it down for later. Who knows? Might come in handy. 

You spin around and power up your computer, opening a document and quickly jotting down a few ideas. You know that to find out what HQ's problem with mutants is, you'd need to ask someone who would probably know those sorts of things. That means Rose, most likely. You write down Jake, Jade, Roxy, and Dave's names; after thinking over the people you know that could or would help you, you add Nepeta and Aradia to the list, and then Jane. You consider adding Sollux, knowing that between you and Roxy you could probably get him to help, but you write his name down in a different column - "possible help", alongside Mr. Nitram and his sons.

Between Jane and Rose, that'd be the reasoning for the mutants and a possible location for the Big Bads Themselves, not to mention any insider information they may know. With Roxy, Nepeta, and Aradia, you'd be able to get to them. You pause for a second and smile to yourself - it sounds like the beginning of a joke. A hacker, a cat burglar, and an adventuress who lives and breathes ruins and traps like she's the reborn Indiana Jones walk into a bar...

That leaves you, Jake, Jade, and Dave, and the four of you are easy enough to sort out. You're all fighters, from what you've seen or been told, either with swords or guns, and that... sounds like the beginnings of a plan. 

You spin around in your chair a few times, slowly, mulling over your plan. You spin once more, so that you're facing your computer again, and begin marking off the people you know will be able to help: yourself and Jake. Jade's another given, and when you think about it, you mark Dave off, too; if he was willing to take Jade in and keep her safe despite knowing HQ's thoughts about mutants, he's probably down to wreck some shit. 

Roxy... you put a question mark next to Roxy's name. She's helped you already and you're sure she'd be willing to help again. But you don't know if she's able to. Your fingers hover over the keyboard and before you can overthink Roxy and her drinking and her sorrow you move on to Nepeta, marking her down as a tentative yes.

Aradia and Rose are maybes; Aradia seems to be friends with Jade, but for all you know she was just being a friend and letting her stay and isn't interested in going a step further and working against her employer. Dave might be able to sway her, though, and make a note of that as well. Rose is much the same, though you feel as though you could possibly sway her if need be. Jane gets a checkmark by her name - she's already helped you so much, you're pretty sure she'd be willing to help you more. 

You give your list a thorough read-through, nodding to yourself and adding in a few notes more - what you know already about Betty, about Lord English, the files that you sent to Jane - before you save and close the document. You pause for a moment, trying to listen and see if you can hear Jake and Jade talking about guns still, but it's quiet in the living room; you check the time and, well, that might be because it's nearly midnight.

You rub at your eyes and stand up, switching your jeans for comfier pants and dropping your shades on your bedside table. You're about to fall on your bed when your door creaks open ever so slowly.

"Hey," says a voice, "you awake?"

"If I'm not, that'd be awkward," you answer, and Jake sticks his head in to grin at you. He looks tired, you see, and a little worn out. "Are you?"

"Probably." He steps fully into your room, glancing behind him as he does. "Jade's fallen asleep and commandeered the couch."

You think you know where he's going with this, and you sit down on your bed, leaning back on your palms. "Floor's not good enough for you?"

He laughs and shakes his head. "Well, no, but -" he rubs the back of his neck, looking nervous, and you grin at him.

"But?" you ask, rather helpfully.

He shoots you a look and drops his hand back down to his side. "You're enjoying this."

You shrug and he grins at you, then asks, "Would it be awful if I asked to sleep with you?"

"That's a little forwards, don't you think?" You grin back at him.

"I - what -" he flounders for a moment before realization dawns on him and he groans. "I meant sleeping. Sleeping! The kind that involves dreams and sheep and - and counting."

"Oh, well, in that case," you say, gesturing to the space next to you.

He smiles at you and sits, moving so that he's sitting next to you and then he falls back, hitting the pillows with an _oof_. He shifts a little, wings stretching out so that he's not laying down on them at an uncomfortable angle, and you slowly lie down. You twist onto your side - you might not have wings, but sleeping on you back is not your favorite way to drift off to dreamland. 

You move once more, grabbing blanket and comforter and pulling them up around you; Jake takes one corner and pulls it over himself and you feel almost self-conscious. 

"Hey, Dirk?" he whispers, and you're pulled out of your thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"I think I like you."

You grin at him close your eyes. "I think I might like you, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! I had the bad luck of getting sick and spent time I'd meant to spend writing being, well, sick. That was less than fun. But while I was lying down trying to will myself to get better, I managed to flesh out part of what I think the ending will end up being. And by flesh out, I mean think of. But hey, it's there, somewhere in the recesses of my mind.
> 
> In other news, I have doubts that this story will make its way to 30 chapters. It will probably be finished before then - fingers crossed. If it makes its way past that, well, that's great, but I'm gonna try to wrap it all up before then.
> 
> (and as one last thing, "Delilah" comes from "[pounce] de leon". i was rather proud of that when i first came up with it.)


End file.
